RWBY: Glowing Embers
by Zivon96
Summary: The Vytal Festival has begun, and Team EMAD is ready to fight! With their first successful mission behind them and a team of allies patrolling the streets for any remaining members of the White Fang, they believe that this will be a normal, if exciting tournament, but the world is all too happy to prove them wrong. Part three of my "Fading Light" series.
1. Chapter 1: Round One

The cool, mountain winds of autumn blew through Alison Zu's hair as she walked through the mountain path, a small, but genuine smile playing across her face and her bright green eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Autumn was coming close to an end, and it showed, the path being lit up in stunning shades of orange and red, intermingled with browns and yellows as the leaves began to fall from the trees, painting the entire forest in the colour of a warm fire. The artist wanted little more than to simply lie beneath one of the trees and let herself drift off to sleep. She knew, however, that if she did, her teammates, and more importantly, her traveling companion would not appreciate it. With him in mind, Alison turned to face him and smiled wider. "It's just a little further up the path, I promise."

Thatch replied with a smile of his own and a shrug. "I don't mind the walk, you know." The renegade said, looking over the fall scenery. "In fact, I'd say I rather enjoy it." He added, stepping up to his teammate and putting an arm gingerly around her shoulders. "It's nice out here, and I have nice company to share it with."

Alison's face could match the trees for colour at Thatch's words. She nestled herself into the crook of his neck and sighed in pleasure. The two took a moment to look out over the changing colours of the forest. For that moment, they weren't two warrior monster slayers in training, fighting an endless war against creatures who wanted their species dead, but simply a pair of teens on a nice, romantic walk through the forest, and at the moment, the two of them just wanted that walk to be a little longer than it inevitably would be. Alison was the first to break away from the embrace, taking Thatch by the shoulders and locking eyes with him, her jade meeting his brown. "Come on," She whispered. "Just a little further, I promise."

With that, Alison broke into a brisk pace, a spring in her step as she led Thatch further into the forest. The renegade was happy to follow and easily kept pace with her as she led the way. Being honest with himself, Thatch was surprised to be out here at all. The Vytal Festival began tomorrow, and his team had been training for days leading up to it, non-stop, and so he had been certain that today would just be another day of training, but Maria had told them that it might be a good idea to take a break for the day. It would do them no good to be tired out the day of their fight, and they had been training for days. Seizing upon the opportunity, Alison immediately asked him if he wanted to spend the day with her, and he had almost immediately agreed.

Alison had packed them a lunch and immediately pulled Thatch out of the school with her, excitedly telling him about where they would be going for their lunch that day. The small mountain range they arrived at was only a small trip outside the city, and though the Grimm would always be a threat, they were a rare sight in these woods, which was why Alison chose them. That, and she had said they held a special value to her. More than willing to spend the day with Alison, Thatch gladly went along with her and did, in fact, appreciate the area. The forest was serene and fresh, a welcome contrast from the city of Vale, and the autumn season was colouring the woods a pleasant shade of red and orange.

Alison led Thatch out of the forest, onto a clifftop overlooking the whole region, the forest spread out below them and the city of Vale in the distance, the entire landscape painted a vibrant red by the coming of autumn, and the bright afternoon sun brightening the entire area. However, none of that was what got Thatch's attention when he and Alison exited the woods. No, what captured his eye was the statue that stood just next to the cliff's edge. The statue depicted two people, a man and a woman standing side by side. The man wore a suit of lamellar armour and held a dao sword at his hip as he looked towards the forest, an expression of proud serenity on his face as though he had lived a life without regret. The woman sat behind him, wearing a traditional kimono and holding a quill pen in hand, holding it over the forest as though she were the one who had drawn it into the world. Her hair cascaded down her back and she had a cheerful expression on her face.

Thatch looked over the statues as Alison rested her head on his shoulder. "What do you think?" She asked. "Do you like it?"

The renegade looked away from the carving and to the girl at his side. "These people, they're-"

"My parents." Alison said with a twinge of sadness in her voice. "They died a few years ago in an airship crash, but before then, they were the greatest parents a girl could ask for. They were both hunters in life, my father a master swordsman and my mother a dust user who taught me all I know about art and combat." She said, pointing out the two figures. Looking at their features, Thatch could easily see the resemblance between the two and his companion. "After... what happened to them... I made this statue in their honour. Whenever something major happens in my life, I come out here to see the statue, let them know what's been happening."

Thatch put an arm around Alison's shoulders and held her close as she leaned against his chest. "I'm glad you brought me out here." He said.

Alison sighed. "I thought since you introduced me to your mom, I should at least tell you about my family." She said softly. "They would have liked you. Well, at least my mom would have."

Thatch smirked slightly. "By the looks of your dad, he would not have liked any guy next to his little girl."

Alison giggled slightly. "He was pretty protective, but he would have learned to like you eventually." Alison looked up into Thatch's eyes and turned to face him. "After all, if both my mother and I liked something or someone, he'd come around to our side eventually."

"Well, I hope wherever they are now, your mum can bring him around." Thatch said, looking Alison in the eye. Jade green and deep brown met as their eyes locked on one another.

As the day went by and the two settled down for their picnic, the hours passed far too quickly for both. And though they wished their date could have gone on for longer, they enjoyed the time they were able to spend on the clifftop, watched over by Alison's father Lao, and in the scenery painted by her mother Mei.

 **RWBY: Glowing Embers**

 **Chapter 1**

 **oxoxoxo**

Maria ducked behind her shield as her opponent's shield slammed into it, forcing her back as the two began to struggle for control. The Vytal Festival had begun, and Team EMAD had already been called on for their first bout. The stadium had been divided into two segments, their side being a range of rocky mountains, while their opponents had a metropolitan cityscape. Almost immediately, EMAD had picked their targets and launched into battle, with Maria's clash being with the other team's leader, a man dressed in full bronze plate and helm with a massive round aspis shield and a shortsword. Their clash had quickly taken them to one of the taller mountains in the mountainous side of the arena.

" _It looks like Beacon's fierce first year competitor Maria Gaia is locked in a deadlock with Haven's very own Leo Khrusos."_ Professor Port declared from the announcer's booth.

" _It's a contest of strength at this point, ladies and gentlemen!"_ Professor Oobleck countered. _"And it looks like Leo might be winning! He's starting to push Maria back!"_

 **(Music begins here. Song: "Far Far Away" by Battle Beast)**

 _Not if I have anything to say about it._ Maria thought. With a push of a button on her scutum, the shield's minigun opened and roared to life, pushing Leo back with a storm of bullets. It was only a small space, but it gave Maria room to go on the attack, charging forward and ramming her shield into her opponent's, throwing him down the side of the mountain they fought on. Seizing her chance, Maria leapt down the mountain after him, opening fire as she did.

Leo, however, wasn't going to go down that easily, and slammed his aspis into the side of the mountain, taking cover behind the shield as bullets slammed into it. When Maria reached him, Leo tore his shield out of the ground and swung it at her, face first. Maria held up her own shield as a defence, but the force of Leo's hit sent her further down the mountain, the centurion landing with a metallic crash as she slammed into the ground. The hoplite was quick to follow, leaping down at her with sword poised for the finishing blow. Maria rolled out of the way as Leo's blade collided with the earth where she lay mere moments before. Rising to her feet, Maria slammed _Imperator_ into Leo's side, forcing him to abandon his sword in the ground and throwing him back.

Seizing her chance again, Maria opened fire once more, the rapid fire rounds from her minigun tearing through the air as they flew towards Leo who took cover behind his shield once again. With shield raised, Leo made his charge, surging through Maria's bullets as he deflected each one. Maria backpedalled as he grew closer, but as soon as the hoplite was within range, he slammed into her with his shield, throwing Maria off balance. His opponent forced back, Leo took his chance, revving up the engine in his shield, the outer rim of the aspis spinning like a buzz saw. He swung the shield at Maria who fell back after the first hit, landing flat on her back. The Spartan struck again, bringing his shield down on the downed centurion, but Maria raised her shield, sparks flying as the spinning edge of the aspis met the nigh indestructible scutum.

As sparks flew in Maria's duel, Alison leapt over the sweep of her opponent's massive claymore blade. She had chosen to go after the girl with long, brown hair in brown leather over chainmail and a kilt. As Alison landed, she looked about the mountainous area she and her opponent had landed in, the rocky gorge leaving both of them plenty of room to swing their larger weapons, Alison's zhua _Pianji,_ and her opponent's dust slinging claymore sword. Her opponent smiled as Alison raised her weapon again, the claw end sparking with lightning. "Not bad." She commented, a heavy Scottish accent showing. "But you can't dodge forever, lass!"

With that, the highland girl clicked a switch on the hilt of her sword and made a massive swing, a wave of flames flying from the blade at Alison. Thinking quickly, the artist spun her zhua in hand and slammed the claw end into the ground, a wall of earth forming between her and the flames, the fire breaking on contact like an ocean wave, waves of heat still slamming into Alison as they passed her by. Before she could even move, however, a swing of her opponent's blade sliced through the rock, just barely missing her. The highlander leapt over what was left of the rock and kicked Alison in the face, sending her stumbling back. She wound up and gave a massive swing of her blade, but Alison, using her reflexes and semblance, jumped back just enough and shot out her zhua, using the claw end to catch her opponent's blade between two of its fingers. Activating the dust in her weapon, Alison shocked her opponent with a burst of lightning, the force sending her, blade and all, flying back into a wall.

The girl wouldn't stay down long though, as she leapt off the wall and flew at Alison, sword ablaze with a mighty swing. Alison blocked the blow and shoved her opponent back, the crowd roaring as she fired a blast of ice dust. The other girl dodged the brunt of the attack, but the edge of it just struck her blade's trigger, firing off a blast of fire, the recoil knocking her off balance and giving Alison an opening.

Switching _Pianji_ to fire dust, Alison shot a near point blank stream of flames that her opponent just managed to dodge. The highlander landed on all fours on the ground, but only a second later, she scrambled aside as Alison struck down with her claw flaming. The highlander leapt to her feet and lashed out, throwing a large handful of sand into Alison's eyes. The artist cried out as she was blinded, giving the other girl the perfect opening to blast Alison with flames and send her rocketing into a wall.

The highland girl began to advance on Alison, but as the artist opened her eyes, she found her vision blurred by the sand. Her accuracy now near useless and her opponent too close to allow her to get the sand out of her eyes, Alison decided now was the time for one last ditch attack. She swung her zhua, an orb of fire flying from the claw and sailing right past her opponent. The other girl didn't have time to gloat as Alison kept on firing, bolts of fire, and lightning flying all over the gorge they fought in, the crowd roaring at the spectacular show, but not a single hit was landing on Alison's opponent as she nimbly and easily dodged every attack launched at her, the attacks forcing her back, but never hitting her. Eventually, however, the girl noticed something: every single one of Alison's shots were going wide. "Uh... I stopped dodging... Are you even trying to hit me anymore?"

"NO!" Alison shouted back, never letting up her attack.

"What do you mean no?" The highlander asked, confused. She looked about at where Alison's shots were flying, only to realize with a look of horror that all the bolts of lightning and fire that had been launched were now suspended in the air around her. Realizing just what was happening, the highlander ran for Alison, but the artist fired one last blast before spinning her zhua above her head and slamming it into the ground. The second she did, every bolt in the sky simultaneously flew down at once, the massive ensuing explosion slammed the highlander into the ground, instantly draining her aura to almost nothing.

" _And Willow Wallace is down by aura loss!"_ Port announced. As the crowd of Beacon students erupted into cheers, Alison blushed and took a bow.

On the other side of the map, Thatch pursued his opponent through the crowded halls of one of the buildings in the metropolitan area, one sword sheathed to give him space to operate in the tight quarters of the building. His opponent was one of the two girls on the other team, a black haired girl in a red shirt, blue pants and black riding boots. She carried a saber and sheath which he found out the hard way contained a shotgun. His pursuit of her had taken them to the second floor of one of the nearby buildings before he lost her within. Oh, he could still hear her footsteps, and was using a minute amount of his semblance to ensure she stayed far enough back her shotgun wouldn't reach him, but he still had no visual.

Finally, the renegade reached a closed door at the end of a hallway. He took cover on the wall next to the door and held onto _Anne,_ while making sure _Elizabeth_ and his new axe were still sheathed at his hip. He was about to step in to break down the door when a blast of buckshot blew the handle off. Thatch grinned. "Gotcha now!" He said. He reared back and kicked the door off its hinges, spraying full auto fire into the room, forcing his opponent to roll to the side. Thatch pressed his advantage, charging into the room, sword raised. He brought it down in a downward chop, but the girl blocked it with her saber before raising her sheath, its barrel staring him in the face. He quickly dodged right as she fired and kicked her aside, quickly closing the distance with another swing of his sword, one that she was once again able to block. The two fighters began exchanging swings, neither one managing to hit the other with blade or bullet alike, until the girl ducked under one of Thatch's swings and used a leg sweep to send him to the floor.

The girl raised her sheath to fire again, but Thatch rolled aside as the buckshot tore through the floor where his head was a second before. Thatch leapt to his feet, only to be met with the girl's gun in his face again. Thinking quickly, he grabbed it and shoved it aside, headbutting her as he did and firing a burst of bullets from _Anne_ that threw her back into a stack of boxes. Thatch ejected the spent clip from his sword and added a fresh one before approaching. However, as he got closer, the barrel of the girl's shotgun shot out from the pile of boxes and fired, throwing the renegade back.

Thatch scrambled to his feet as the girl advanced on him, sheath shotgun raised for finishing him. Thatch raised _Anne_ as he walked back, until his back met the all too familiar glass surface of a window.

" _It looks like Beacon's Thatch Edwards is in trouble now. Josephine Rosso has him up against the wall."_ Port announced.

The girl, now identified as Josephine, smirked as she raised her weapon. Thatch cursed under his breath as he looked for a way out, the sound of roaring engines growing ever closer in the distance. Thatch grinned. He knew just what that sound was. As the sound grew ever closer, Thatch raised _Anne_ and pointed her at the window behind him. "Cheers love." He quipped. He pulled the trigger, a burst of bullets shattering the window behind him. Josephine looked on, confused until Thatch leapt out the window.

Josephine looked out in confusion until she saw Thatch's last teammate, Francois drive past on his _Atlesian Stallion_ motorcycle, the renegade landing on the back of his bike as the nobleman raced past. "Sorry to drop in, mate!" Thatch yelled, struggling to be heard over the sound of the engine.

" _Pas du probleme, mon ami!"_ Francois replied. The noble had one hand on the handlebars of his bike, the other was holding his sword. "Perhaps you would be of service when my opponent returns."

Thatch was about to ask what he meant, when the sound of another engine filled the air. The renegade turned to see another bike gaining on them, this one a hog driven by a boy in a cowboy hat and glasses wearing a blue shirt, brown pants and cowboy boots. Similar to Francois, he had one hand on the handlebars, and in the other was a long rifle with a bowie knife bayonet on it. Best of all, sitting on the back of his bike was Thatch's old opponent herself, Josephine, the girl having her saber in one hand, the sheathe strapped to her waist. "I see your problem!" Thatch shouted over the engine. "Let's see if I can't fix it!"

The renegade raised _Anne_ and opened fire, the bullets flying through the air as the boy on the hog swerved all over the road to avoid the fire. "He's a nimble one!" Thatch yelled.

"He would be!" Francois replied. "He's Teddy Brown, he fights more on that bike than he does on foot! Hold on, I've got a plan!"

"I'm all ears, Noble Boy." Thatch responded.

The chase raced on, the boys leading their pursuers out of the city and into the mountains. With more open space, Teddy pulled up next to Thatch and Francois and raised his rifle to fire, but Francois deflected it with his blade, knocking the gun aside and making its discharged shot miss. Josephine took her chance to swing her own blade, but it was blocked by Thatch before it could touch Francois. "Sorry girly, no one messes with him but me!"

Thatch swung his blade at Josephine, but the girl dodged by climbing back on the bike, standing atop the back of the bike's seat. Thatch stood up in response, drawing his second blade and launching into a flurry of attacks, forcing Josephine to draw her sheath and go onto the defensive, both of them exchanging swings and blocks as Teddy and Francois duelled for control of the road, clashing sword on rifle.

Francois swerved around a corner, Teddy following him close behind, the drivers nearly throwing their passengers off. The second the bikes were righted, Josephine pressed her advantage, swinging her saber for Thatch and forcing him to block, knocking her blade aside and slashing with his own, a shot that was deflected by Josephine's scabbard.

The bikes raced on, the two vehicles running along the edge of the arena and the crowd roaring at the spectacle of the two teams fighting atop their rides. Teddy made another thrust with his rifle, only to have Francois parry his shot with his blade and pull his bike back slightly. "NOW!" He cried.

Teddy was confused for a moment, but Thatch heard the command loud and clear. With a pulse of fear from his semblance, he made both riders from the other team uneasy, making them perfect targets. The renegade leapt from Francois bike, swords outstretched and slammed into both of their opponents. The bike went off course, slamming into a large rock and flinging all three into the air, Teddy Thatch and Josephine all landing hard on the ground and taking a huge hit to the aura.

" _And with a stunning display of recklessness, Josephine Rosso has been eliminated!"_ Oobleck announced.

Thatch hauled himself to his feet and dusted himself off. That was when he realized something: the announcement had only said one of the other team's members had been eliminated. The cocking of a rifle pulled the swordsman out of his thoughts as he ducked just in time for a bullet to fly past his head.

"You think that's all it takes to bring down the bull moose!?" Teddy roared.

Thatch turned to see him. His cowboy hat was knocked off and his glasses were cracked, but the boy himself seemed unharmed as he fired round after round that Thatch was forced to dodge. After dodging one such shot, Thatch began to return fire, only for Teddy to charge through his bullets and slam the butt of his gun into Thatch's gut. The renegade stumbled back in pain, but before rose to his feet and clocked his opponent across the jaw with his sword's hilt. Teddy growled in rage as he advanced, pushing Thatch back towards the edge of the arena. Thatch looked behind him for a quick second, only to see the edge of the arena less than two feet behind him. "From the edge of a building to the stadium..." He muttered to himself.

"Praying won't help." Teddy said, lining up a shot.

Thatch clenched his teeth and growled as he raised his swords. Their eyes locked as each one waited for the other to move first. Suddenly, Thatch grinned and gave a bow before dropping to the ground. Teddy looked at him, confused as the sound of roaring engines grew louder behind him... wait, what?

Teddy turned around just in time to see Francois ramp off one of the mountains and send his stallion flying towards the rough rider. Time seemed to slow as Francois turned the bike in mid air, the vehicle flying side first into Teddy, flinging him out of the arena as Francois leapt off to safety.

As the nobleman and the renegade rose to their feet, another comment by the announcer was made. _"Ooh, that's gotta hurt! Teddy Brown is down!"_ Port announced, Thatch and Francois exchanging a high five at his words. _"Leo Khrusos is his team's last hope for victory!"_

At the words of the announcer, Leo Khrusos winced internally. His team had little chance to win, but he was going to make the other team pay for every inch.

Maria, meanwhile, felt a surge of pride as her teammates took their opponents down. "Are you going to make this easy, or do we do this the hard way?" She asked.

Leo said nothing, merely revving up his shield again.

"The hard way it is." Maria muttered. Before Leo could move, she slammed into him, shield first, knocking him off balance and kicked him in the center of his shield, knocking him to the ground. Leo wasn't going to stay down though, and he kipped up, using his momentum to spin around and slam his shield's rim into Maria's shield, the impact throwing the centurion into a mountain. Leo followed it up by throwing his shield after her, the shield flying through the air like a discus right for her. Maria smirked as she saw this. It didn't work for her rival, and it wasn't going to work for this guy. Maria rolled forward as the shield flew over her head and bounced off the mountain, flying back towards Leo.

The second the shield bounced, Maria struck, opening fire with her shield's minigun. Leo's eyes widened as the rounds flew at him from the spinning barrels, the stream of lead slamming into his armoured chestplate and rapidly draining his aura until it finally dropped into the red, the buzzer going off to signal the end of the round.

" _And Leo Khrusos goes down!"_ Oobleck declared, the crowd erupting in cheers.

" _And that's the match!"_ Port concluded _"Team EMAD is victorious!_

Maria looked out at the screaming crowd as they cheered on her victory, no, her team's victory. She could feel her teammates approaching behind her as the crowd roared. She turned to face them. Alison was seemingly just now realizing how many people were watching her and was blushing furiously at the attention. Thatch and Francois exchanged a fist bump at their victory over their opponents. While their strategy was reckless beyond belief, she could scarcely deny it was effective, and they had earned that first bump. She gave all three of them a smile before turning back to the crowd and thrusting her gladius in the air in triumph, causing the crowd to roar even louder. In that moment, Maria had no doubt that if she and her team worked hard enough, this tournament was hers.

oxoxoxo

From the Axman's cave, Rick, Ben and Micca all held bags of popcorn as they watched as Team EMAD swept their opening match on the lair's massive computer. The Vytal Festival had begun, and though they had spent nearly all their time over the past week preparing for when Masque would contact them to help him evacuate, they had all agreed that EMAD's match was something they could take a break for.

Once the match was called, Rick threw his popcorn in the air and cheered. "Booyah! I knew they could do it!"

A disgruntled Ben glared into the back of Rick's head as he removed the discarded popcorn bag from his head. "Settle down, Rick." Ben grunted. "The match is over, we need to get back to training."

Micca got up and stretched her back. "He's got a point, Rick. Masque could call any day now, and when he does, we need to be ready."

" _You're right, Taipan, you do have to be ready."_

The three turned to see that the lair's computer had activated, and on the screen was a figure they could only assume was Masque. He wore a dark green hooded robe, and what could be seen from beneath the hood was covered by a gold mask with no mouth and glowing green eyes. The voice they were hearing was modulated, as one likely didn't become a highly valued informant without hiding their identity as much as possible. Aside from that, it was hard to see much of Masque, as the video did not show much more than his face, or at least, his masked face.

"Masque, I presume." Ben said. "I assume you're calling to talk about your relocation?"

" _You presume correctly, Ben Aparte."_ Masque replied _"With the entire city focused on the Vytal Festival, and all the people there, no one will notice the small operation being carried out at the docks. You'll receive an address once this call ends, and you will head directly there. I presume, based on your records from the army that you have formulated a strategy for this operation?"_

"You assume correctly." Ben replied. "The three of us have formulated a plan to extract you from your current base of operations, after which we will bring you to the Axman's lair where you can set up your equipment."

" _That's not necessary. There is little that needs to be brought with me that cannot fit in one bag. As long as that gets to your lair, my network of information can be restarted from your computer. That said, when you arrive, I must request that you help me to destroy my current setup, as it cannot fall into the White Fang's hands. Is this understood."_

Ben nodded. "Understood. Team, are you ready for this?"

Rick was practically bouncing with energy. "Ready when you are, big man."

Micca seemed nervous, but did not want to make their potential informant sceptical of them. "I'm ready to go."

Ben took note of her posture and voice before he responded to Masque once again. "Send us the address and we'll be along in an hour. Prepare everything you need."

" _Understood. I look forward to meeting you in person, Ben Aparte."_

With those words, the call ended, the computer's screen once again shifting to the Vytal Festival, where Team RWBY had begun their battle. A chime from Ben's scroll told him that Masque had sent them the message of his location. "I'm going to inform Maria of our mission, you two get ready." Ben said, pulling out his scroll. "And Rick, I expect you to at least TRY and follow orders. Got it?"

"Dude, I might be crazy, but I'm not that crazy." The Axman answered. "I know the plan, I'll get the job done, no worries."

"That's what I'm worried about..." Ben muttered to himself, pulling out his scroll.

As the giant soldier walked off to make his call, Micca turned to Rick with a nervous expression on her face. "What about me?" She asked. "If the White Fang see me in my old Taipan robes, they'll know I'm still alive. What do we do?"

Rick stopped walking and hesitated for a second before smacking himself in the face. "Dammit, I completely forgot." He grumbled.

"You forgot that little detail, didn't you?" Micca asked, annoyed.

"I did forget something, but it wasn't that. Come with me." Rick started walking and Micca followed close behind. He led her to his locker and opened it up, producing a small parcel which he handed to her. "Aedan had this made a little after you joined us, try it on and see what you think."

Micca took the parcel and retreated to the room she and Rick now shared. She shut the door and opened up the parcel, thinking about the past weeks she had spent with Team EMAD's Legion, as Rick called them. Though the experience was pleasant, and Rick and Ben had quickly accepted her after Maria recruited her, it would never quite be the same as working with Caroline and Wun. But with the White Fang taking part in so much destruction and working with people like Blanch, she could not, in good conscience stay with them. As much as she would have wanted to make her sister and Caroline see things the way she did, that just wasn't an option, and while she hated to go against them, if she was going to protect the people, the faunus, then she would have to work against them.

Rick watched as the door to their room opened and Micca stepped out in the new costume Aedan had made for her. The new costume was similar to what she had worn as Taipan, with a long, hooded robe, but it replaced the coattail with a cape with three black diamonds running down it's back. The costume was now tan in colour and had black boots and gloves. "You were once Taipan, assassin of the White Fang. Now, you're Diamondback, Vale's newest vigilante."

 **oxoxoxo**

 **Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to RWBY: Glowing Embers. I know I'm a bit late to the "writing about Volume 3" party, but I hope you guys will still read and see what I do with this volume since a lot of important things happen in Volume 3 that need to happen in this world too, along with some new events of my design.**

 **No matter the case, I implore you that if you are reading this, leave a review and let me know what you thought. I'm always happy to hear from you guys, even if what you say is negative. After all, reviews, whether good or bad, are how one improves.**

 **So, here's to a new story and a new adventure.**


	2. Chapter 2: Relocation

**RWBY: Glowing Embers**

 **Chapter 2**

 **oxoxoxo**

Ben sat behind the wheel of the APC Team EMAD had stolen from the White Fang as he parked it a block away from the small ramshackle house along the dockside of Vale. This had been the address that Masque had given them, but something had to be wrong here. This place was way too run down to be the home of the city's greatest information broker. The building itself looked dilapidated, the brown paint on the walls peeling at many points. The structure was only a single story high, with a worn tin roof that he was all but certain let the rain in whenever the weather turned sour.

Rick poked his masked head into the driver's seat. "You sure this is the right place, big guy?"

"This is the address." Ben muttered. "If he is in there, we'll need to get him out."

"And if it's not?" Micca asked, her hood down, revealing her face.

"Then I get the two of you out of here as fast as I can." Ben said simply. "You remember the plan?"

"You know it." Rick said, flashing a thumbs up. "Micca and I go in, get Masque and bring him out to the APC, we load him and his stuff in, and bring him to the lair, making sure to blindfold him just in case he just wants to know where we live."

"I just wish I could go in there with you guys." Ben muttered.

"Told you already, bug guy," Rick said, patting the soldier on the back. "A guy your size with your kind of firepower is just not right for a stealth mission."

"I know..." Ben muttered. "Just get in there and get Masque out before the White Fang shows up."

Rick snapped a salute. "Yes sir. Ready Micca?"

The snake nodded, pulling up her new hood. "Diamondback is ready. Let's move."

Rick smirked and the two of them ran to the back of the APC, Rick kicking open the door as they both burst out, hitting the ground running. The distance to the small house was short, but it was too quiet for Rick's liking. That said, he could see why Masque set up shop here. This place was just far enough out of the way that he could never be seen unless someone knew where he was, but at the same time, it was also just far enough in the city that he could manage his information empire. Something was making Rick feel somewhat uncomfortable as he walked through the empty streets towards Masque's supposed home. It was almost too quiet. Part of him knew that this was what Masque wanted, somewhere he could run his network from without being bothered, but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder where the ambush would come from.

"You alright?" Micca asked. "You're a lot quieter than usual."

"I don't usually get chatty until combat starts," Rick explained. "This part of the mission is too crucial for us to get spotted because I was running my mouth and cracking wise."

"That's... actually sensible."

"I try my best, now come on, let's get this over with."

As they closed the distance to Masque's front door, both Axman and Diamondback drew their respective axes, a single headed woodsman's axe and a larger double headed axe respectively, and took up their positions on either side of the door. Diamondback reached for the handle and gave it an experimental twist. "Door's unlocked, Ben. Do we proceed?"

" _Affirmative."_ Ben replied over his scroll, his voice heard through their earpieces. _"Keep your eyes open, I really don't like this part of town."_

"Got it." The snake girl replied. She and her psychotic comrade shared a nod before turning the handle to the door and throwing it open, Axman immediately leaping through the door, axe brandished, Diamondback following behind him, weapon shifted into its rifle form, a barrel emerging from above the head of the axe as the two blades sifted to form a sort of bipod as it shifted to its rifle form. "Room clear." She reported.

Indeed, the room was empty, and looked for all intents and purposes just as she expected. A small, dilapidated wood walled room with three boarded up windows and a set of flickering lights on the ceiling. However, of all the lights, there was only one that wasn't flickering, a single light that shone down on the far left corner of this single room from the door. "Not sure how this place still has power." Axman mused.

"It seems almost too easy..." Diamondback responded, walking to where the light shone. She felt along the floor, kicking up a small cloud of dust as she did. She blew it aside and resumed her investigation, running her hands along the cracked wooden floorboards. Never had she been more thankful for her gloves, as she couldn't recognize most of the stains that covered the floor and didn't want that, nor the splinters these boards would certainly give her, anywhere near her hands. In her disgusted musings, she idly ran her hand over a loose board, the sound of it striking the nearby boards jarring her out of her thoughts. Turning to Axman, the two exchanged a nod before she reached under the board and lifted it up, pulling up a metal cable as she did. The second the cable was pulled, the floor beneath them began to shift. The floor immediately to the right of the cable split apart and slid in opposite directions, revealing a gleaming metal trapdoor beneath it. The door gave off a long hiss as it opened itself. Once the sound of the opening door ended, it was replaced with the sound of tapping keys from within.

The two vigilantes turned to face one another before the familiar synthesized voice was heard from within. "If the two of you are done gawking, the door is open, come in."

With another shared nod, the two vigilantes stepped through the trapdoor and into Masque's lair. The lair was much bigger than the shack it was under, being the size of Rick's lair, with a pair of beds in the corners of the room and a truly massive monitor in the center of the wall to the left of the door. The massive monitor was surrounded by an entire network of separate screens, ranging in size between a scroll or a television screen, each one displaying a different scene that seemed to be taken from a security camera somewhere in the city. However, rather than look to the screens, Diamondback and Axman's gazes were drawn to the figure standing in front of the screens. They could only assume this was Masque, as his familiar green robe and golden mask gave that away. The robe covered his entire body, extending from his hood down over his shoulders in a cloak that ran down to his feet. This didn't seem to be difficult, however, as one thing about the information broker that the two vigilantes had immediately noticed was how short he was. The man must have only stood about five foot five and based on the frame covered by his cloak, he couldn't have been too bulky either. "I was wondering when the two of you would get here." Masque said, voice distorted. "I told you the streets would be empty, everyone is too focused on the Vytal Festival to notice you moving me out of here."

"I hope you've packed everything you need." Axman said. "The rest of this stuff is going to be tricky to get out of here."

"You need to learn to listen better." Masque replied, stepping up to his network of screens. He pressed a series of buttons on the console and produced a small computer chip from the machine. The second he removed it, the entire network went dark aside from a single screen, a scroll. Masque reached up and removed it from the wall, the green clad arm emerging from his robes confirming the suspicion that Masque was a thin man. He placed the scroll in a pocket under his cloak and turned to the Axman. "I told you, everything I need to bring with me can fit in just one bag." He said, gesturing to a moderate sized bag in the corner. "I simply need the three of you to get me from here to your place of business."

"If you can call it a business." Diamondback muttered, producing her own scroll. "Ben, we have masque, how is our escape looking?"

" _Not as good as we might have thought. The White Fang just rolled in, you're about to have two trucks worth of company."_ Ben said through the scroll. _"I'll fire up the APC as soon as you two get out of there and we'll make ourselves scarce."_

"How did they find Masque?" Axman asked.

"I have a theory about that," The information broker answered, picking up his bag and removing a pair of daggers he placed in his cloak. "I'll tell you when we get out of here. Come on, I already have a distraction ready."

"Define distraction." Axman said as Masque led the way back up into the dilapidated shack above his lair.

Masque tossed him a small remote. "A second after we're out of here, press the big red button."

Rick smiled as he looked over his lovely new present. "I like you already."

"Just remember to let us get out first." Masque said in response, pulling out his scroll. "I've got cameras set up just outside, looks like we've got about twelve soldiers out there plus one leader, small one in a snake robe."

Micca's heart sank. Wun was here? What was she doing here? She knew her sister and commander had managed to escape the Abyss, but what was she doing in Vale? A hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts, the masked face of the Axman looked her right in the eye. "We'll get out of here quickly, hopefully we don't need to deal with these guys."

Micca gulped, but tightened her grip on her axe as she converted it back to its melee form. She gave a single nod as she and Masque moved to stand next to the door as Rick moved to stand in front of it. The shadows passing over the filthy windows of the shack told them that the White Fang soldiers had passed by them. This would be their best chance to escape. Rick and Micca shared one last nod before they burst into motion.

 **(Music begins here. Song: "Guitar Gangsters and Cadillac Blood" by Volbeat)**

With one kick from the Axman, the door flew off its hinges. The two vigilantes charging out of the shack with the information broker in tow. The White Fang immediately noticed, Wun giving the order to open fire. The soldiers gladly obliged, dust rounds flying from their guns at the trio.

"Hit the button now!" Masque ordered.

Rick nodded with a wide smirk under his mask and pressed the button.

Behind them, the shack exploded in a burst of fiery brilliance, showering sparks and hot metal all about the area and throwing any White Fang members nearby to the ground. Wun looked from the running vigilantes to her disoriented soldiers and growled under her breath, pulling out her scroll. "Bring the trucks around!" She spat. "We're going after them!"

It took only seconds for Micca and Rick to reach the APC, Ben throwing the rear hatch open the second he could see them. "Let's go! Get in!" He urged, the three passengers piling into the truck. As they strapped themselves in, Ben climbed back into his seat and gunned the engines, the truck roaring to life as it sped away from the annihilated shack, immediately turning towards Vale. Behind them, a pair of White Fang APCs roared around the corner after them, Wun standing atop one of them.

The roof hatch on Wun's APC opened and a White Fang soldier climbed out, LMG in hand. Wun jumped back, landing behind him as she gave the order. "Aim for the tires!" She ordered, shouting to be heard over the wind. The soldier nodded and opened fire, several high speed dust rounds flying from his weapon.

Ben cringed as he swerved about the road, attempting to avoid the rounds. "If someone could deal with that, it would be much appreciated!" He ordered, throwing the wheel to the side and swerving down a rural road. "I need those guys off our tail before we get back to the city!"

"I thought you'd never ask." Rick said, getting up from his seat. "Mind if I borrow your gun, big man?"

"Knock yourself out!" Ben said, swerving off the road and into a field.

Rick smirked as he grabbed Ben's sword, immediately converting the massive blade to its LMG form. He pushed open the back hatch, immediately pulling it back and ducking as a burst of fire tore through where his head had just been.

"Be careful!" Masque demanded. "You have other passengers!"

"Looks like I'm doing this the hard way..." The madman muttered to himself. He smirked wider beneath his mask. "That just makes this more fun!" He said, sticking Ben's weapon out the hatch. Slamming down on the trigger, Rick began firing blind at the APC behind them.

Wun's eyes widened as the storm of rounds flew at her truck. "Take cover! Evasive action!" She roared. She released her grip on the APC and allowed herself to be pushed back by the momentum of the vehicle, grabbing onto the back of the truck as it swerved to avoid the incoming fire, the rounds expanding to massive spheres on contact with the truck, each impact shaking the truck and threatening to dislodge her. The cobra grit her teeth and held on as the rounds soared past, tearing up the landscape and throwing up clouds of dirt.

Rick pulled Ben's gun back to reload. "Diamondback! Give me a hand here!"

Micca nodded, converting her axe to rifle form, resting the axehead turned bipod on the rear hatch as she took aim, Rick laying down covering fire with Ben's gun as she did. The White Fang gunner emerged from the truck's roof hatch and took aim just as Micca did, aiming for a particular target on his enemy's vehicle.

As one, the two pulled their triggers, Micca's shot hitting its mark on the enemy APC's front tire, the combination of the blown tire and flying over a bump at high speed sent the truck into a roll. However, the gunner got off a burst of his own fire, a stream of three shots that smacked Rick right in the face, throwing him back into the truck, his aura and mask being the only things to save his life as the protective field flickered grey and white before dying out, Rick groaning as it did.

Wun felt the distinctive bump of the tire being blown out and immediately burst into motion, running along the rear of the truck as it was flung into the air and leaping off before the vehicle could roll further and flatten her. Arms outstretched, she managed to catch the edge of the other APC and pull herself back up. "Caroline is going to kill me for that one..." She muttered, pulling herself onto the roof of the truck.

Micca pulled the rear hatch shut and was immediately at Rick's side. "He's down for now, no aura left." She reported.

Ben cursed under his breath. "Think you can take out that last one without him?" The soldier asked.

"It'll be difficult, but I might be able to." The snake replied, gripping her rifle tightly.

Wun rose to a prone position on the roof of the second APC as a soldier opened the roof hatch. "Order the driver to get us closer!" She ordered. "I'll handle this myself!" The soldier disappeared down the hatch, Wun loading a special arrow into her left crossbow. Just as she ordered, the driver began to draw closer to the truck they pursued. "That's it... just a little closer..." She muttered. The second the truck was close enough, Wun fired, her cable arrow flying from her wrist mounted bow and embedding itself in the truck ahead of her. Wun smirked as she attached the other end to her own truck. The hatch opened once again and she barked another order. "Maintain our current speed and keep on them!" She ordered. "I'll get Masque!"

The sound of a single impact on the back of the APC was the first sign that something was wrong, and the sound of a pair of boots atop it was just one more bad sign. "We've got a boarder!" He declared.

Micca blanched at his words. These were mostly normal White Fang troops, out of all of them, only one would have done this, and it was just the one she was dreading. For a split second, she panicked. What were they going to do? Rick was unconscious, they couldn't just ask Masque to fight for them, and Ben was at the wheel. She was their only option to repel their boarder, but did she have it in her to fight her own sister? In a daze, she cast her eyes about the truck. Rick was on the ground, aura depleted, Masque was rummaging in his bags and Ben was gripping the wheel tight enough to break it. If Wun got in now, she would take them down with ease. Steeling herself, Micca made up her mind and shifted her axe back to its melee form.

 **(New Song: "Storytime" by Nightwish)**

The APC's roof hatch had just been cracked open an inch before Diamondback made an aura fuelled leap through it, making a wide sweep of her double bladed axe, Cobra just managing to leap out of the way before she was hit. The White Fang assassin just managed to catch the edge of the truck and haul herself back on as her new opponent got to her feet. "Well, you're a new face." She said. "The Axman's new pal, or maybe Masque's?" She mused.

"I can't let you take Masque." Diamondback said, voice distorted. "Get off this truck or I'll remove you myself."

"Perhaps you don't know me." Wun said, rising to her feet, wrist mounted blades emerging from beneath her twin crossbows. "In the White Fang, they call me Cobra. My sister and I used to be the most feared assassins in the organization." She spat. Micca cringed internally at her sister's words. The poor girl didn't even know who she was talking to. "Without her... well, I need to get my name back to its rightful place."

Micca's heart sank at her sister's words. The sheer venom they held was stunning. "They call me Diamondback." She said, readying her axe. "And you need to get off this truck." Every word was pain to her, but they needed to be said. She had to give her sister a chance to get out of this.

She wasn't going to take that chance.

With a loud hiss, Cobra fired her remaining crossbow. Diamondback juked out of the way of the bolt, but the younger snake followed right behind it, stabbing at her with both blades. Diamondback leapt back and retaliated with a swing of her axe, one that Cobra leapt over with ease, the smaller girl stabbing at her opponent the second she landed. Diamondback sidestepped and slammed the pommel of her axe into Cobra's stomach, winding her and sending her stumbling back. Space created, Diamondback swung her axe in a wide sweep, one that Cobra ducked under and rolled forward, using a leg sweep to knock the taller snake to the ground.

With her opponent on the ground, Wun kipped up and drove her blades down toward Diamondback's masked face, the tan clad snake moving her head at the last second, causing her opponent's blades to impact the truck beneath her. The attack avoided, Diamondback kicked out harshly and knocked her opponent back. Cobra got back to her feet quickly, but Diamondback swept her axe along the ground, rolling onto her front and sweeping Cobra's feet out from under her. The White Fang assassin landed hard on her back, just managing to roll out of the way when Micca brought her axe down where she lay just a second before. She was about to jump back to her feet when the APC hit a large bump, throwing her off balance.

Diamondback seized on this chance, winding up and letting fly a massive swing of her axe. Cobra had barely regained her footing when the hit struck, catching her across the chest and sending her flying back. Not wasting a second, the vigilante surged forward, using a massive swing of her axe to sever the cable holding the two trucks together.

Wun just managed to grab the edge of her APC, climbing onto the roof just in time to watch Diamondback sever the cable. The two locked eyes for just a moment as Diamondback shifted her axe to rifle form. Wun's eyes widened. She knew that weapon anywhere. She froze, unable to do anything but stare. That was Micca's weapon. The young snake was barely aware as she watched her sister's weapon be pointed at the tire of her truck. She should have been panicking, trying to prevent this, anything, but all she could to was stare in disbelief.

"I'm sorry." Diamondback said as she pulled the trigger.

The impact was what shook her out of her haze. The second the bullet hit her truck's tire, the APC lurched as it went into a roll, Wun making a running leap for the enemy's vehicle, only to miss by mere inches, landing hard on the ground in a roll. The cobra looked ahead with rage in her eyes as Diamondback climbed back into the truck. She didn't know who that woman was, but if she thought she would get away with using her sister's weapon, she had another thing coming. The young snake pulled her scroll from her robe's pocket. "Commander, mission failed." She muttered. "The enemy got away. I'll gather the surviving men and bring them back to our base and make my report. You will want to hear this."

" _Just get back to our Vale hideout."_ Caroline said. _"We'll find another way to track down Blanch."_

Wun hauled herself to her feet. "Yes ma'am." She grunted. Taking one last look at the direction her quarry had driven in, she turned away and made her way back to her men.

oxoxoxo

After bringing Rick back to the waking world, Ben asked him to take the wheel and guide them back to his lair. The psychopath gave a groggy nod and replaced the soldier, saying that he had a way back to his lair through the city sewers and they could leave the APC there. As Rick got behind the wheel, Ben walked back to the passenger section of the truck where Masque still sat. "How are you feeling, sir?" The giant soldier asked.

The information broker gave a heavy sigh. "I've known I would have to do this for some time now, but I didn't expect it to be so..."

"Difficult?" Ben suggested.

"Thrilling." Masque replied. "I didn't expect the White Fang to actually track us down."

"Welcome to the vigilante life." Ben said simply. "You kind of brought this on yourself when you chose information broker as your job." The soldier frowned. "I do have to ask though, what made you reach out to Aedan like that? He made it sound like the two of you only spoke when he needed information."

Masque let out a heavy sigh, a sound that was extremely eerie to Ben with the broker's voice modulator. "I should probably explain..." Masque reached a hand up to the side of his hood and pulled it back, pulling his mask off with the other hand.

Ben's jaw hit the floor at the same time as the mask as he watched the girl behind it shake out her neck length dark red hair. She had an expression of resignation on her face, large green eyes full of regret. "I'm... not the same Masque that Aedan always worked with." She explained. "My dad was the original Masque, his name was Olivier Dage, I'm his daughter, Emily."

"What happened?" Ben asked, shaking himself out of his stupor. "Did the White Fang kill your dad?"

Emily shook her head. "No, he died of natural causes." She said with a sigh, it was about a year ago, and he asked me to maintain his network after he died." She looked wistful for a moment. "At first, everything was going well, I was managing to maintain my father's network, gaining money for information, keeping tabs on all the gangs he had informants in, even managing to get a few of my own in rising gangs. Then... well, I got sloppy. I forgot to erase my connections to one of my newer informants. The White Fang found out the general location of my lair, and while I knew it would take them a while to track me down, it would only be a matter of time until they did."

"So you chose a client your father trusted?" Ben finished. "You reached out to Aedan and The Axman."

The girl nodded. "I knew Aedan was one of the few men my father trusted, and I knew I had an offer he couldn't refuse. I would work for him and he would give me shelter."

"And you would give us information." Ben finished. "You said you could help us take down the Fangbreakers, do you have anything new on them?"

Emily gave another nod. "I've managed to get a few informants in the group, I'm just waiting to hear any reports on higher ups, hideout locations or plans of action. It might take a bit of time, but we will hear something."

"Glad to hear we have some good news today." Ben said with a light smile. "If you'll join, then I'll be happy to bring you into our little group."

This time, Emily had a smile of her own for Ben. "Don't make it sound like you have the power here." She said with a smirk. "I know for a fact that the one in charge Miss Gaia, or as you call her, 'ma'am!'" The broker said, snapping a salute and imitating Ben's facial expression.

The soldier grimaced. "It's an old habit..." he muttered.


	3. Chapter 3: A Voyage Into the Blue

**RWBY: Glowing Embers**

 **Chapter 3**

 **oxoxoxo**

Curtis Marlow sighed as he listened to the radio broadcast of the Vytal Festival. The prisoners in his cell block were not allowed television, but after his months of quiet, he had been allowed a radio on which he could listen to the announcements and fights of the tournament. It came with its own punishment, however, that being the pair of guards standing outside his cell, monitoring him. If he did anything to the radio aside from turn it on or off or change the station, they were to confiscate him and, he assumed, administer a beating. At this point though, there wasn't much they could beat out of him. The man was just a step above broken, and that step had been taken a month ago when Erik had returned from the Abyss. He had brought good news with him too, saying that all the students he had brought with him had survived and that the Abyss had been destroyed, the accursed island consumed in the flames of Atlas Justice. Though it had been a hard fought battle, at the very least, the threat of the Inferri was now gone. Now he could focus on something he actually looked forward to: seeing how much Jaune had improved as a fighter. According to the announcements, that particular fight would be taking place later on that very day, and Marlow was tensing in anticipation, waiting with bated breath to see if he was right in trying to fight for the boy's right to stay at Beacon. It was almost tragically ironic that he both hoped the boy succeeded and failed. He hoped he would succeed in his match because it meant the Arc line didn't simply die at Arthur. However, should the boy succeed, it also meant that the darker side of Marlow's mind, the side of him that was born that fateful day at Ognoc, was in the right when he attacked Beacon. Burying that part of himself was something Marlow hoped his stay in prison could do for him. Though he knew he would never fully be rid of it, the veteran hoped to bury it as deep in his mind as he could, hoping it would never again surface. It may have been a part of him, but that hardly meant it had to define him.

"Prisoner 59610."

Marlow looked up from the radio to the robotic Atlesian Knight guard at his cell door. "Yes, what is it?" He whispered. Though he had taken some steps on the road towards mental recovery, Marlow still felt uncomfortable speaking in louder tones to all but a select few, those few being Fantine and a small number of his other former comrades who once upon a time served beside him and didn't resent him for his actions in the past year.

"You have visitors, Prisoner 59610." The Atlesian Knight replied. "Please follow us." It said, unlocking Marlow's cell door. The veteran stepped forward and allowed the guards to place cuffs over his wrists and ankles, however thin they had grown from months of barely eating. Marlow took one look at his reflection in the faceplate of the machine. His hair had been forcibly trimmed in the last week when it grew too long and wild, though Marlow had simply sat back and allowed them to do so, and the lack of wild brown hair in his face now allowed him to see just what he had become. His eyes were sunken in his face, and his cheeks gaunt and thin, seeming to just hang off the bones of his skull. Looking at the rest of his body wasn't much of an improvement. Where once there was lean muscle and strength now was replaced with a skeleton of a man, the prison jumpsuit concealing visible ribs as it hung off his frame. He could only imagine how disappointed his visitors would be when they saw what he had become, assuming their image of him could get any lower. Once the restraints were placed upon him, the guards began to lead Marlow through the prison, the eyes of other inmates watching closely as he was led through the compound, recognizing the look of a dead man walking.

As the march continued, Marlow could only wonder who his visitors were. The guards had mentioned it in the plural fashion, so he imagined there was more than one person who deigned to see if he was still alive. With that said, only one name immediately came to mind, that of the phantom, Erik Fantine. Erik had been one of the few individuals who knew what he had done and where he was, the only others who knew were his teammates, Ozpin and his fellow teachers at Beacon. Former fellows, that is. He was no longer a teacher and he needed to remember that. Marlow's eyes widened in terror at one horrible thought. It wasn't Jaune coming to visit, was it? The idea of the last scion of Arc seeing him in such a state nearly drove him past the breaking point. He was close to shattering into pieces, every instinct in his damaged mind telling him fight or flight. He could leap on one of the guards and tear off his head with the chains of his cuffs, take his gun and kill the other one before he could react. No! That would hardly work, the rest of his mind argued. That part wanted nothing more than to simply drop to the ground and shake like a leaf, maybe scream in terror.

Shaking slightly, and with a herculean effort he didn't even know he could muster anymore, Marlow shoved down the urge to collapse and bound it in the depths of his thoughts. Mustering up the urge not to scream, he carefully opened his mouth and asked the simple question: "Who are my visitors?"

"Override:" The machine said. "Your visitors will remain anonymous."

Marlow sighed internally. Erik's doing, no doubt. But, then again, if Erik was here, that meant Jaune likely wasn't. Though the phantom loved to torment him, he would hardly bring Jaune to him without warning him well in advance. The phantom knew the young knight was his weak point, and if he were to bring him for a visit, Marlow would be warned well in advance in order to prevent just such a reaction. Despite all the two of them had been through, Erik was still Curtis' friend.

That still left one question, however, that being just who Erik had brought with him. It was rare that the phantom would even visit, let alone bring anyone along for his visits. He had few friends outside his team, and aside from the occasional conversation with Theodora during the war, Marlow wasn't close with any of Team FRST. As the veteran took his seat in the usual interrogation room, his hands cuffed to the chair, he sighed once again and rested his head in his hand. Before long, fully expecting Erik to simply appear in the room as he had done before embarking on his mission to the abyss, Marlow began to rub his temples as he waited to realize the familiar sensation of being watched.

It was thus a sincere shock when the door to the room opened, the sound of the opening door nearly giving Marlow whiplash as he turned to face the doorway, two figures standing in it. Erik was the first, the phantom standing tall with his mask upon his face and his cape wrapped around his form. Standing next to him was another, a man Curtis had all but given up on ever seeing again, thinking him dead at the hands of a horde of nightmares. "Erwin? You survived?"

The general gave Marlow a sad smile. As one of the youngest students ever accepted to the Vale Military Academy, Erwin Frundsberg had studied under Curtis Marlow personally when the Ghost in Red had spent a semester as a guest instructor at the academy. While Erwin had always been a prodigal strategist, it had been Marlow's instructions on the art of war that truly turned Frundsberg into a master strategist. Marlow had taught him when to attack or when to retreat, and while some might see this as patronizing, as a young child, Erwin needed to learn this, and once becoming a general, he had appreciated the older huntsman's teachings. During the Faunus War, Erwin would always ask himself before engaging in battle 'what would Curtis Marlow do?' "It's good to see you again, Sir."

Marlow's face turned down. "Don't call me sir, Erwin. If Erik has told you any of what I've recently, you can't actually believe that." He said with a heavy sigh. "It's probably a shame to see an old mentor looking like this."

"Actually, Curtis," Erik interjected. "The boy still asked to see you, even after hearing what you did at Beacon."

Marlow looked up to see his former student taking his seat across from him at the interrogation table. The boy had come far from the youth he had met at the Vale Military Academy. He had gone from wearing the uniform of a soldier to that of a general, refined and powerful. He wore a long, deep blue greatcoat, brown breeches and black boots, his kepi, adorned with four stars sitting atop his head. Their eyes met, and Curtis noticed something in the boy's eyes. A look that just seemed too familiar to not know, yet so off putting in the face of a youth. "You… wanted to see me?"

"You were one of my favourite teachers." Erwin said. "No matter what you had done, I had to… I had to know if you were still alive."

"And so Erik brought you here, even after telling you what I did?"

The young general nodded. "There was also something I wanted to ask you. You were a teacher at Beacon, you knew the students you taught there, right?"

Marlow looked down at his hands. "I suppose you could say that. Why do you ask?"

Erwin frowned. "I'm looking for the best of Beacon's students to receive a… special offer." The general pulled his scroll from his pocket. Opening up a picture, he turned the screen to face Marlow. On the screen was a blade, a shortsword, curved forward at the tip, the curved portion weighted to give a better cut when swung. Looking closely, one could see that while the blade had clearly been through much, with several stains on the blade and even what appeared to be burn marks on it, the edge still looked to be razor sharp. "This is my old sword, _Drakon._ When I led the attack on the Abyss, this was the weapon I carried. However, after my failure there, I like I can't call myself worthy of a blade like this anymore. So I need to ask, out of all the students you've taught, which do you think would be worthy of it?"

"You want to give a weapon like that to one of my old students?" Marlow asked.

The general nodded. "Vale has always been my home, I figured I should pass the sword onto one of its future hunters."

Marlow pondered Erwin's words. True, Beacon was a great academy, full of budding warriors just waiting to become the legends of the future. Immediately, the first name that entered his mind was Jaune Arc, but he instantly shook that thought out of his head. The boy had enough on his shoulders, carrying not just his own family legacy, but also the burden of his fallen father's sword that Marlow had kept from him. No, giving him the blade would only add to that burden. His name was followed by that of Maria Gaia. Gaia was always a promising student in his classes, keeping her work always distinctly above the class average and ensuring her team did the same. However, he had a suspicion Erwin might discount her, seeing as he wanted to keep the sword in the hands of Vale's warriors, and Gaia was Mistralli. Then there was that girl, Ruby Rose. She was young, but the exuberance behind those eyes showed a passion for doing the right thing. "I can tell you about some of my old students, and you can decide for yourself."

Erwin nodded. "Thank you, I really appreciate it."

oxoxoxo

Maria could only smirk as she watched Team JNPR's victory over Team BRNZ. Her team had been transfixed on the match, but the entire time, she had been watching JNPR, already anticipating their victory. She had seen them in team combat before, of course, but at the same time, she knew they would have improved by the tournament, and watching this fight, she was far from disappointed. Jaune was the biggest surprise, the once hapless knight now skillfully holding his own on the battlefield and coming up with tactical maneuvers in seconds. She still felt a pang of guilt at exposing him earlier in the year, but at the same time, she was happy to be proven wrong as he showed that he could indeed fight and, more importantly, lead his team.

Then there was Ren. Ren was fast and more than skilled, as well as more durable than he looked, able to take several hits from an electric baton and get back up, still managing to fight back against the user of said baton. He would be tough to face, should JNPR choose to field him in later fights. He, however, was nothing compared to Nora. Throughout all her team's classes with the energetic redhead, Maria had never once seen her use her semblance. The knowledge that it was the absorption and use of electricity instantly put a hold on one strategy. Alison loved using lightning dust, so putting her against Nora would likely end in tragedy for the artist. Nora would require careful planning to beat.

However, there was still one factor that was proving ever more frustrating in overcoming: Pyrrha Nikos. The amazon was still clearly the strongest member of Team JNPR and no matter what Maria did, she was still always frustrated by her combat abilities and semblance. She had a plan to fight Pyrrha, when they met in combat, and they would, seeing as JNPR would obviously field her in future matches, and Maria had no intentions of being knocked out of the tournament, however, her strategy was a longshot at best and would require careful planning to even execute.

Maria thought she would be annoyed with her own failure at yet another potential loss to her rival, but instead, she felt something that she had lacked in reality for quite some time. It was something that her time as a leader had dulled, and her time as a student had all but extinguished: her competitive spirit. It had been largely dormant, especially after what happened in the first semester, however, being here, at this tournament, with so many other teams to test her skill against, she was excited, eager and terrified all at once. The first round had been enough to sate her for now, but her hands were still shaking in anticipation, especially at the thought of facing Nikos again.

"That was bloody great!" Thatch said, jarring her out of her thoughts of battle. "That's one way to finish a fight, just hit 'em with the biggest stick you can find held by a madwoman!"

"Well, _mon ami,_ " Francois piped up. "We lack a "madwoman" of our own, do you think you can swing something big enough to beat Nora?"

"Are you kidding? You don't fight someone like Nora by trying to out big stick her," Yang said, Team RWBY sitting in the stands just behind EMAD. "You put Maria in front of her and have your fearless leader give her 'the look.'" As Maria shot her a glare, Yang shuddered slightly. "Yeah, that's the one."

"Hey, you want to weaponize our fearless leader, this is on your head." Thatch said back to his old friend. "Unless you let us use your leader. I'm sure if we put Ruby in front of Pyrrha and have her put on the puppy dog eyes, she'll fall apart."

Giving a wide smile, Yang put her hand on Thatch's shoulder, a gesture that, to the world looked friendly, however, the pressure of the squeeze she gave it nearly sent the renegade to the ground in pain. "That's my leader and my sister, Thatch." Yang said, the smile never leaving her face. "I'm sure you can understand why I'd like her to not be used as an adorable meat-shield."

Alison giggled alongside Ruby at the swordsman's obvious discomfort, even after Yang had released him. The artist leaned on his untouched shoulder and nestled herself there, the renegade's stress noticeably diminishing as he relaxed from her touch. She closed her eyes and nuzzled his shoulder slightly.

Maria looked to her infatuated teammates. When the two of them had begun dating after the dance, she had honestly worried about Thatch and his intentions toward her partner, and who could blame her? The renegade was a rough and tumble kind of guy, and had been into some shady things in his time, but he had been nothing but a perfect gentleman to the artist. Of course, she kept an eye on him, and regularly questioned Alison about how their relationship was going. It was, of course, just for protecting the oriental girl, not at all because she wanted to know how the relationship was going, that would be silly.

Shaking her head, Maria turned her attention back to the stadium, where Oobleck and Port were making another announcement. _"Ah, Vacuo fans are sure to be hurting after that one, but this battle will have them on the edge of their seats!"_ Oobleck said.

" _Two visiting teams are about to engage in what is sure to be a glorious fight!"_ Port added. _"Vacuo's Team VOAJ and Mistral's Team INGO are both relatively unknown, but can one of them gain glory after this fight?"_

The two underdog teams made their way to the stage, Team INGO's leader Indigo Aesir stepping forward to greet VOAJ's leader Violet Lightwood. The sniper and dust mage locked eyes for just a moment before each one reached out and clasped the other's hand.

Indigo gave a cocky grin, a mischievous twinkle in his electric blue eyes. "May the best team win." He said.

Violet nodded, her purple hair blowing in the breeze as the handshake rattled the weighted chains on her arms. "Best of luck to you too."

"You'll need it." They both said, their cocky grins nearly matching.

The terrain modifiers began to spin as the two leaders stepped back to their teams. On VOAJ, Alex Garnet split his staff into its twin pistols as Violet took her place next to him, using her semblance of polarity to levitate the weights on her chains off the ground, Julis Gold dusted off his suit and drew his sword from his cane, saluting the opposing team with the blade, and Onyx Blanch cracked his knuckles, activating his opposing black and white gauntlets. INGO was another story, Noctus Lupin stepped in front of his leader and partner, drawing his axe and ensuring its gun form was loaded as Indigo racked the bolt on his sniper rifle, Diana Grey simply wiggled her fingers, flames dancing along the digits as she stared disinterested at her new opponents, and Obsidian Thanos simply grinned madly as he ran his shorter blade over its larger counterpart.

Eventually, the match's terrain was settled. INGO turned to see that rising behind them was a foggy swamp, the fog seeming to thicken by the second. Indigo thanked whatever gods he could think of that the swamp didn't smell as bad as he was afraid it would.

Meanwhile, behind VOAJ, a rocky, blasted terrain arose, a single watchtower standing above the rocks. Violet smirked, knowing her team could work with this.

The two teams stared one another down, the two leaders locking eyes as Indigo gripped his rifle and Violet began to levitate her chains off the ground.

Maria watched from the crowd as the two teams awaited the countdown to their fight. She knew little of either team, so this match would be perfect to learn about the team that beat hers while she was injured as well as the team that served under her sister.

 **(Music begins here. Song: "Act of Desperation" by Amaranthe)**

The countdown began as both teams braced themselves. _"Three, two, one, begin!"_

"Diana! Smokescrean!" Indigo ordered.

The dust witch nodded, leaping back into the swamp and slamming her gauntlet, empowered by fire dust, into the waters, throwing up a thick veil of steam as Team INGO retreated to their side of the arena.

" _And Team INGO makes the first move!"_ Oobleck declared. _"What could they be planning?"_

"After them!" Violet ordered. VOAJ was about to follow their opponents when a piercing howl ripped through the air, Noctus Lupin flying from the smoke, axe raised and aimed for Julius.

The Gold heir leaped back as the wolf swung his axe, though before he could recover, Noctus shoulder rammed him in the gut and threw Julius over his shoulder as he used his superhuman strength to carry Julius onto VOAJ's side of the arena, throwing the heir bodily into the tower, the foundation cracking from the impact. Noctus lept for the heir, axe raised, but Julius jumped aside and smashed his cane into the wolf's head. Noctus stumbled from the blow, but Julius was quick to press his advantage, igniting his sword and sending a wave of fire at the axe wielding faunus, throwing the wolf to the ground. The Gold heir jumped for his opponent, sword poised for the finishing blow, but Noctus rolled aside as Julius' blade pierced the ground beneath where he once was.

Diana gave a small smirk as her fearless leader's tactics paid off. The smokescreen had already giving them a chance to divide the enemy, and knowing that her teammates fought better as individuals, this worked just fine for her. Indigo's instructions were clear after that: 'pick a target,' and the dust witch knew exactly who her target was going to be.

Spotting Onyx from within the smoke, she gave a small grin as she raised one hand and casually sent a stream of searing flames at the brawler.

" _It looks like VOAJ's Onyx Blanch is in a bit of trouble."_ Port announced. _"Diana Grey is one tough customer."_

Onyx casually leaped over the flames, his semblance of spatial awareness telling him exactly where Diana was and what she was doing. The boy reached the arc of his jump and shifted the dust in his gauntlet _Rise_ to wind. With one punch, Onyx slammed a burst of wind directly into the stream of flames Diana sent at him, scattering the inferno and giving him a safe place to land. "Sorry," He said as he landed, slamming his fists together. "But you're gonna have to do better than that."

"Oh, I fully intend to." Diana said. She wiggled her fingers, she switched her dust types to fire and earth. Gloves charged, she slammed her hands into the ground of the arena, a wave of lava flying for the young brawler.

Onyx's eyes widened as the mass of magma surged for him. Thinking quickly, Onyx shifted both his gauntlets, _Rise and Fall_ to ice dust and made another leap forward, clearing the height of the wave. Once above it, he opened fire, _Rise_ hitting the wave with arctic temperatures while _Fall_ sprayed ice infused bullets, the combination freezing the lava in its tracks and cooling it into a wave shaped stone. Onyx landed on the stone and shifted _Rise_ back to wind dust, summoning a gale force wind that would send him flying for the witch.

Diana, however, had other plans. Shifting both her gloves, _Isis and Hecate_ to earth dust, and with a simple touch, the solidified wave violently exploded, shards of stone slamming into Onyx and throwing him to the ground, the unfortunate brawler landing face first in a puddle of swamp water. The witch casually advanced on him. "I told you I could do better." She said with an evil grin.

"Then do better than this." Onyx declared. Switching his dust back to ice, he slammed _Rise_ into the swamp, freezing the water and trapping Diana up to her waist in ice. The brawler leapt to his feet and switched his dust to fire, surging forward to slam a burning right hook into the witch, shattering ice and aura in one blow.

" _Ooh, that's gotta hurt,"_ Port announced. _"Diana Grey is down to aura loss."_

Onyx grinned as he sighed in satisfaction.

Until a bullet slammed into him from afar, throwing him to the ground and draining what remained of his aura. Indigo smirked as he looked through the scope of his rifle.

" _And Onyx Blanch soon follows her, downed by Indigo Aesir's sniper rifle!"_ Oobleck declared.

In the stands, Maria's eyes widened at that name. Quickly, she fired off a message on her scroll to Micca. The snake girl had mentioned a Blanch when she briefed them on the events of the Abyss, maybe this guy had some relation to him.

Back in the fight, Violet watched as Onyx's aura hit the red and cursed under her breath as she sent one of her chains into the ground in front of Obsidian Thanos, throwing up a fiery explosion that sent him stumbling back. "Alex!" She ordered. "Track down that sniper before he nails us all!"

"On it!" Alex reported with a nod. Splitting his staff into its twin pistols, he opened fire on Obsidian and rushed forward, forcing the dark swordsman out of his way as he ran past, reuniting his pistols into staff form in the swamp's mists.

Obsidian growled as Alex escaped, raising his longsword _Phobos_ and splitting the blade to reveal the pistol within it. As he took aim, Violet slammed the weight of _Blizzard_ into the ground before him, the fired bullet embedding itself in the ice that formed from the impact.

"What's the matter, am I not enough for you?" Violet taunted.

"You'll do just fine for now." Obsidian growled. He raised his shortsword _Deimos_ and poured his aura into it, sending a violent burst of flame at the chain fighter, but Violet propelled her chain _Inferno_ into the blast, the ensuing fiery explosion throwing up a thick cloud of smoke and debris.

Obsidian launched himself through the smoke, swords raised for the kill, but Violet dodged back and retaliated with a swing of _Blizzard,_ the swordsman just managing to dodge the attack as he flipped back and opened fire with _Phobos,_ the shots just missing as Violet rolled aside. The second Obsidian hit the ground, he raised _Deimos_ and let loose his hellfire, the flames slamming into Violet like a truck and throwing her back, VOAJ's leader impacting the tower on her team's side of the field.

Her vision spinning, Violet recovered just in time to see Obsidian slowly advancing on her, loading a new clip into _Phobos._ To her right was the edge of the stage which Obsidian could launch her off of. The left had the swamp covered by INGO's sniper leader. To her back was the wall of the tower. There was only one way to go.

Obsidian raised _Phobos_ to fire, but Violet threw _Blizzard_ upwards, the icy chain freezing itself to the top of the watchtower, one mighty heave pulling her to its peak with the strength of her aura. Now with the high ground, she swung _Inferno_ towards the ground, the fiery chain just missing the hateful swordsman, so much that he could feel the heat of the chain's weight.

"You wanna play with fire?" He roared. "I'll show you fire!" Obsidian sheathed _Phobos_ across his back and gripped _Deimos_ with both hands, plunging the blade into the ground, the shortsword's crimson blade already glowing. A second later, a massive eruption of flame propelled Obsidian and the ground he stood upon into the air. The swordsman leaped off the blasted earth with a roar of rage, sword primed for a downward stab, Violet leaping aside just in time to miss being hit. The hateful swordsman pulled back his shortsword and drew the longer blade from his back before rushing Violet with a roar of rage.

Violet pulled her chains back as she dodged Obsidian's mad slashes, clutching the burning and freezing weights in her hands as her chains wrapped around her arms. The swordsman swung both blades once more, Violet ducking under the slashes and slamming _Inferno's_ weight into his gut. Obsidian's semblance activated on impact, using the dust from _Deimos_ to create a fiery clone, the duplicate bursting in a fiery blast that threw the chain fighter to the ground.

The explosion propelled a madly cackling Obsidian into the air, the swordsman plummeting toward Violet, swords primed for impact.

Violet's vision returned just in time to see Obsidian about to impact her, just barely rolling out of the way as the hateful swordsman smashed into the top of the tower, blades impaling themselves in the floor and shaking the structure as a web of cracks formed from the impact.

Obsidian gripped his swords to pull them back, but Violet moved quicker. With a flick of her wrist and a push of her semblance, she sent _Blizzard_ slamming into the watchtower's floor, coating the entire structure with ice. Obsidian heaved to free his sword from the ground, only to realize that it, as well as his feet, were frozen to the floor.

"Sorry to drop out so soon." Violet said, giving a small wave and a wink as she made an aura fuelled leap off the tower. As she descended, Violet brought back both chains and spun in the air, both weights charged with the elements, _Blizzard_ radiating sub zero cold and _Inferno_ completely engulfed in flames. _Blizzard_ struck the tower a split second earlier, coating the entire structure in ice, freezing Obsidian and the structure he had cracked. From there, all it took was one blow from the overcharged _Inferno_ , the fiery weight slamming into the tower with the force of a meteor. The explosion was deafening, the blast of flame from the fiery wrecking ball shattering the tower, leaving a crater where it once stood. Obsidian was thrown to the ground in a shower of half melted ice crystals and stone debris, aura completely depleted. Violet landed on her hands and knees, a smirk painted on her face and adrenaline in her veins.

" _Ladies and gentlemen, the watchtower and Obsidian Thanos' Aura are gone in one fell swoop."_ Port announced.

Violet's smile faded entirely when a screaming Julius Gold was hurled past her, aura well into the red when he crashed into the swamp. Violet looked in the direction he was thrown from just as Noctus stepped into view, axe held over his shoulder and still radiating wisps of frost. "Next." He quipped.

Violet readied her chains for battle when another body flew past her field of view. Indigo slammed into the ground and skipped off it, his aura entirely depleted as he came to a stop in front of his partner. Noctus looked down at the sniper with a raised brow.

"You can handle this one, right?" Indigo croaked.

"I'll clean up your mess." Noctus replied, stepping over Indigo's form with a smirk.

"My mess?" The sniper wondered. "When did this become my mess?"

 **(New Song: "Father of the Wolf" by Amon Amarth)**

Noctus didn't answer as he unshouldered his axe _Fenrir_ and stepped forward to face what remained of Team VOAJ. Alex snarled as he combined both his pistols, _Whisper_ and _Shout_ into his staff _Speech,_ while Violet let both _Blizzard_ and _Inferno_ fall to the ground beside her as she gripped their chains.

Alex struck first, a roar of rage tearing itself from his throat as he charged Noctus, staff raised. Noctus parried his strike with the shaft of his axe and struck the berserker with the butt of his weapon before rolling out of the way as Violet swung _Blizzard_ in a downward arc, making an icy crater where he had stood just a millisecond before. Thinking quickly, Noctus fired _Fenrir's_ shotgun mode, the icy shell freezing the weight to its crater.

The wolf had no time to celebrate, as Alex immediately struck, slamming his staff into Noctus and sending him flying back into the swamp. Noctus landed face down in a pit of mud and pulled himself up only for Alex to smash _Speech_ into him again, knocking the wolf into the air. Alex followed, Noctus bracing for impact as the berserker wound up another swing, the strike sending him barreling down into another pit of mud.

The wolf hauled himself to the surface just as Alex approached, brandishing his staff. He raised the weapon to smash Noctus back down into the mud, bringing it down hard.

With a snarl of rage, Noctus shot to life, using his semblance of superhuman strength to grab the staff mid descent. The wolf growled as he pulled himself up out of the mud, one hand still holding Alex's staff while the other clutched the handle of his axe, wisps of frost emanating from it. Howling with fury, Noctus swung Alex by his staff, slamming the berserker face first into the mud. Tossing his staff aside, Noctus took aim with his axe's shotgun and fired, the ice dust infused buckshot freezing the mud solid.

Alex struggled to get free as Noctus took his axe in both hands. The sounds of Noctus' howl and Alex's scream of fright filled the arena as the wolf brought his axe down hard, shattering the the frozen mud into ice crystals, draining the remainder of Alex's aura in one good hit, knocking his aura into the red as he lay groaning in a pile of muddy ice crystals.

" _And Alex Garnett is drained and shattered!"_ Oobleck announced. _"Ladies and gentlement, he'll be feeling that in the morning!"_

Pumping the action on his shotgun, Noctus ejected the spent clip as Violet approached, weights levitating by her side. "Looks like it's just the two of us." Noctus noted.

Violet smirked. "Let's fix that, shall we?" With a flick of her wrists, both chains flew for Noctus, the wolf jumping back as the ground he stood on before was coated in ice and shattered into shards. Converting his axe to its shotgun form, Noctus opened fire, the distance blunting the damage as ice shards bounced off what remained of Violet's aura.

When Noctus' gun clicked empty, his heart sank. He knew both he and Violet were on their last legs, and that one good direct hit might just drain them. Already he could feel the fatigue and dull pain from fighting Julius and Alex, and a quick look at his aura gage had him planted firmly in the orange, the same as Violet after her duel with Obsidian and her fight with him. With the range she had over him, a victory was going to be difficult.

Noctus' internal monologue was broken as _Blizzard_ flew at him, the wolf just managing to jump back as the weight slammed into the ground, coating it with ice. With her semblance of polarity, Violet pulled herself forward, using the momentum of her chains to slam her feet into Noctus' gut, driving the wind from his lungs. Before he could even hit the ground, Violet hurled _Inferno_ forward with the force of a cannonball, the wolf just managing to contort his body enough to dodge as the steel orb flew past him. His relief wouldn't last long, as the orb impacted the ground, the ensuing explosion hurling the now screaming wolf into the air.

Ready for the final blow, Violet recalled both her weights into her hands and called upon all the aura she could spare in one last leap skyward, soon catching the soaring wolf. Violet raised _Blizzard_ to deliver the final blow, something Noctus just looked up in time to see.

Time seemed to slow as Violet brought the weight down, Noctus bringing up the shaft of his axe to block it. A shell of ice formed over the weapon, crystals covering Noctus' hand, chilling him even more as the cold air whipped at his face and hair.

Violet raised the hand that held _Inferno,_ but Noctus rammed a fist into her stomach, driving the air from her lungs and making her drop the chain, the orb just missing Noctus' head as he ducked out of the way.

Noctus grabbed the flaming chain and heaved on it, using the momentum to slam his head into Violet's. The girl didn't stay dazed for long as she used her semblance to recall _Inferno's_ chain, wrapping its length around Noctus' free arm, the chain bursting into flames and searing at the wolf's aura as he roared in pain.

Catching himself, Noctus contorted himself mid descent, planting his boots on Violet's abdomen and heaving back. With one arm frozen and the other bound in flaming chains, he could feel his aura draining with each second.

A second later, the two slammed into the ground, the ensuing impact smashing a crater in the swamplands and throwing up a cloud of dust that blocked all view of the outcome. Nothing moved within the cloud, and only one thing was certain: the horn signifying one of the fighters' aura had dropped into the red had sounded on impact.

Maria practically scrambled out of her seat as she tried to get a look through the cloud. Even with her knowledge of battles, she could hardly guess who would come out on top in this fight, and looking to the scoreboard would have been too easy. She needed to see the winner, see who was still standing after that fight. Through the dust, she at last saw movement. The sound of moving chains was just audible over the roar of the crowd as a figure rose from the dust. With shaky steps, Violet Lightwood stepped out of the dust, only to fall to her knees as Noctus Lupin, battered and bruised, walked out behind her, axe shouldered. A look to the board would reveal his aura was a hairsbreadth from the red zone. Landing on Violet must have cushioned his fall just enough.

" _And the winner is Noctus Lupin of Team INGO!"_ Oobleck announced.

Maria let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding as the winner was announced. She slipped back into her seat and joined the rest of the crowd in applauding the winner as a satisfied smile broke out on her face. Noctus' teammates were now standing by his side as they waved to the audience. It would be interesting should she meet them later down the line in the tournament. And she would be making it further in the tournament. There was only one person in the entire tournament who had ever beaten her, and by this point, she had waited more than enough time to fight her again.

oxoxoxo

Vlad cackled as the fight ended. From his vantage point in the boxed seat he and Erwin were given for their service to Vale, he reflected on something he had known for quite some time: the best kinds of comedy turned someone else's cries of pain into his own peals of laughter. "Ha! That was rich!" He chuckled as Port talked about what an 'impact' that fight must have had on the audience. He didn't even know if the old fart knew he had made a joke, but to the newly reinstated general, it hardly mattered. He was back, he was off that miserable hellhole of an island, the Abyss, and most importantly, now he got the best seat in the house to watch a bunch of kids beat the snot out of one another. And in life, what could be better. Oh wait, how about the fact that once he and Erwin got back to Vale, they had been reinstated. Yeah, apparently Vale's army had suffered somewhat in the six months since losing a thousand men in the middle of a then classified island. As such, the sole survivors of said island were obviously a valuable resource and clearly war heroes worthy of returning to their ranks.

They were right, of course, he and ol' Frundsy were more than capable of running half that damned military on their own. Erwin had the brains, he could keep the men in line, Ben was good looking enough to be the face of the operation, what could be better?

The sound of the doors to his boxed seat opening drew Vlad's attention. "Speak of the devil!" He declared, as Erwin walked in. "How's my favourite general? Lookin' sharp there, by the way."

Erwin looked down at himself as Vlad spoke. The tattered uniforms they had worn on the Abyss had been replaced as soon as they were replaced. Erwin had swapped out his ruined military uniform for a deep blue duster coat, though he had insisted on keeping not only his kepi, but also refused to replace his lost star. The general had declined any sort of promotion when he returned, and was even hesitant to retake his old rank. Too many had been lost on that island for him to claim any sort of victory for himself.

Vlad, on the other hand, was all too happy to let them give him back his rank, and had gladly taken the new suit of chainmail and the lovely red silk coat that now topped it. He ditched his old helmet though, not much could contain his new hairdo, and he thought it best show off his pitch black locks to the world, especially since they now reached his mid back. "So, Frundsy," Vlad said, walking over to clap his old war buddy on the shoulder. "What are our orders, oh fearless leader? We had the animals on the run back at the Abyss, we gotta take this to their doorstep now, right?"

"Vlad, the White Fang have scattered to the winds after their attack on Vale failed." Erwin explained. "Even if we had the manpower to go after them, and we don't since we're all here guarding the festival, we wouldn't even know where to look."

"Well that's what spies are for, oh brilliant leader." Vlad said, shoving Erwin aside as he marched past. The halberdier began to pace the room as he spat his venom at his commander. "How the hell did you get your command back? Look at you, first you get your entire army killed, then you almost cost us our way off the Abyss, and now you've forgotten what spies are." Vlad muttered something under his breath that the general wouldn't hear. Didn't matter since he got the meaning from his tone. "What did Oz see in you?" Vlad hissed.

"Well, I'm above average in strategy." Erwin replied.

"Above average, eh?" Vlad replied, leaning over Erwin's head, his head resting on that of the shorter general. "Oh right!" The halberdier said, tracing the side of the general's head with one finger, running it up from his chin to his temple. "That's that semblance of yours. You know just how to win." Vlad continued, punctuating the last four words with pokes to the young general's temple. "I'm sure that meant a lot when your men were slaughtered to a man. When our camp was razed to the ground. When we nearly cost the entire world its right to live. I'm sure your beloved strategies came in real handy there."

Erwin looked like he was going to speak up again, but all that escaped his throat was a pathetic sounding squeak as his voice caught in his throat. The sounds of a fight outside could clearly be heard, another valiant group of hunters battling it out for their own glory and the entertainment of the masses. All that was just so much white noise to the box, as both Vlad and Erwin could barely look one another in the eye. One would have thought that after all the two had been through together, they would be inseparable, a tag team like no other, but to Vlad, something never did seem right. Erwin's semblance had always pulled them out of tight spots when they were in the army, so what had changed that one fateful night?

Meanwhile, Erwin remained tight lipped about the entire event, not wanting to discuss any one detail about what had happened that night. Vlad had tried to bring it up in the past, trying to get his old comrade to budge on just what went wrong, but the general hadn't said a word. Vlad didn't like that. It made him tense and twitch, and that made him uncomfortable. He didn't like feeling uncomfortable, that made him angry.

Taking a deep breath, Vlad steadied himself before standing up from leaning on Erwin's head. He walked to the box's window and folded his arms, watching as the battle continued, arriving just in time to watch a red haired lad take a flaming coconut directly in the family jewels. "Priceless, that is." The halberdier chuckled.

Erwin thanked his lucky stars that Vlad could get so easily distracted when off the battlefield. The general let out a sigh, both in relief and slight frustration. He could only keep Vlad guessing for so long, now that they were back in Vale. Taking a deep breath, Erwin approached his friend, standing next to him as they watched the match. "We have people looking for traces of the White Fang." Erwin explained. "So far, the trail is looking cold, all we found was the wreckage of that firebase after it crashed in Northeastern Vale."

"That shouldn't be a problem for you." Vlad replied, not even looking in Erwin's direction. "You're a smart cookie, you are."

The general took a deep breath and turned on his heel as the match ended. "I should probably be going…" He muttered.

"Yeah," Vlad replied as he continued to watch, not even turning to face his friend. "You do that." The sound of the door opening and closing behind him told the halberdier that his former leader had left. The soldier snarled. Erwin was hiding something, he was sure of it now. He knew what shell shock looked like, after all, he saw it in the mirror every morning, and that wasn't what he saw on Erwin's face today. No, that was guilt. Erwin knew he did something wrong, and while part of Vlad's mind told him it might have just been survivor's guilt, being the only survivor of the thousand man army you led could do that, that just seemed too easy.

oxoxoxo

Ruby collapsed in her stadium seat with a sigh of relief. "Oh, that was so close!" She breathed. Sun and his team had just finished their match, and had sent the other team packing. It was almost a disaster though, with Neptune just managing to work within his fear of water to shock the other team out of the round.

Maria made a mental note of this weakness of Neptune's for later use.

Yang chuckled. "Looks like the dorks made it to the next round." She said, nudging her partner.

Blake, in response looked down to the field where Sun and Neptune were doing a victory dance. Sun gestured up at her, colouring her cheeks a bright pink as she rolled her eyes at the monkey boy's antics. "Emphasis on dorks."

Behind Team RWBY, Thatch elbowed Francois in the ribs to get his attention. "No matter what we do," The swordsman declared. "At least we're not them."

"Well," Francois said, placing his hat back on his head. "I'm not. I'm sure you would fit right in, _mon ami._ "

"Sometimes I hate you."

"I am fully aware of this."

Alison looked over at the boys as they bickered. Sometimes she thought she had been placed on a team with two brothers and their terrifying older sister. She knew Maria wouldn't like being called anyone's sister, largely due to... disagreements with her own sister, but nevertheless, Alison saw her as such, and likely always would.

Maria, meanwhile, was completely focused on the tournament. The match might have ended, but Neptune's hydrophobia was just one of the things she had memorized in the time it took to watch the fight. Her mind and semblance had been moving a mile a minute, memorizing weapons, fighting styles, quirks the fighters might have had. By the end of the bout, she knew their styles like the back of her hand.

" _That concludes the matches for today."_ Oobleck said over the loudspeaker. _"Please leave the coliseum IN A CALM AND ORDERLY FASHION!"_ The doctor declared, the volume forcing Maria from her thoughts.

The centurion shook her head, her brown locks flying about as she did. That was one disadvantage to her semblance, if she tried to focus on too much at once (such as fighting styles, weapons, tactics used and quirks of the enemy of all enemies on the field at once), she would sometimes just end up staring into space. She still had memories of once at Sanctum when she was nearly mauled by Grimm at a young age while absorbed in watching a group of older huntsmen fighting the monsters.

"Come on," Yang said, getting Maria's attention, along with that of her entire team. "Let's go congratulate 'em."

"I'm in." Thatch said, getting up and dusting himself off. "Noble Boy buys the snacks."

"Sometimes I hate you."

"I'm fully aware of that."

Maria scoffed at her teammates' immaturity. "Come on, let's head out." She said, gesturing for Team RWBY to go first.

Yang left first, followed by Blake, Weiss and Ruby. After their friends had left their seats, Maria led her team out of their seats, only to bump bodily into Ruby, the young reaper having also bumped into Weiss. Maria just stopped herself from falling on top of both.

"What… are you doing?" Ruby asked as Weiss stared off into the sky.

Maria followed her gaze, looking up with awe as one of the most elegant ships she had ever seen flew over the stadium. It looked familiar, but she just couldn't put her finger on who it belonged to.

"She's here…" Weiss said, her look of joy mixing with utter dread as her voice tried to pick one of the two emotions to convey.

Maria frowned as she gestured for her teammates to follow the remainder of Team RWBY. A second after she did, her eyes widened as she realized just whose ship this was. "Weiss," She began. "Just who is 'she'?"

 **oxoxoxo**

 **OH GOOD GOD THAT TOOK WAY TOO LONG TO FINISH!**

 **Sorry guys, with classes, new job, new girlfriend and writing The Last Stand and Long Journey Home, this was NOT easy to write, especially after writing much more grounded fights in The Last Stand. It's a bit tricky to get back into the insanity of RWBY when your last story was grounded in real world logic and not anime logic. Anyway, this isn't an excuse, just an apology.**

 **I am WAY behind here, but here's hoping I can catch up soon.**

 **Anyway, be kind and leave a review, they're what give me my motivation to write more and write faster. And speed is what I need if I'm ever going to catch up.**

 **Sneak preview for the next chapter: Winter Schnee arrives, and General Gaia is there to greet her. Meanwhile, Ben and company dig into the Blanch family and see just what Onyx's relationship to Derek Blanch is.**


	4. Chapter 4: Brothers, Sisters & Bruises

**RWBY: Glowing Embers**

 **Chapter 4**

 **oxoxoxo**

Arms crossed behind her back and flanked by a pair of her personal Atlesian Legionnaire droids, Julia Gaia stood at ease as the Atlesian aircraft descended to the Beacon docks. She had been notified the instant this particular ship had entered Vale airspace and had been ready to greet it the second it had begun its descent. She had dressed in full attire for the occasion, donning her chainmail and medals, her spatha and gladius sheathed across the small of her back and her crimson scutum shield held at her left side. She held her red crested helm under her right arm and her blood red cape billowed in the wind as the roar of the engines diminished. A friendly smile, something not often seen on her face, formed for a fraction of a second before she took a deep breath and steeled herself, ready to greet her old friend after so long.

As the ship touched down, Julia forced herself to look ahead at the doors and not at the comotion starting behind her. It sounded small, but there was definitely someone demanding to know what was going on as the ship's main hatch opened, a ramp extending to the ground as a lone woman stepped out, closely followed by a pair of Atlesian Knights. She was dressed in stark white, a colour that matched her hair, neatly kempt in a bun aside from a single strand that hung from the left side of her hair. The centurion stepped forward and stood at attention, giving a quick salute, a gesture that was quickly followed by the woman, her piercing blue eyes meeting Julia's crimson as they lowered their hands and stood at ease. "Welcome to Beacon Miss Schnee."

"General Gaia, please," Winter Schnee said, face just shifting the slightest bit for half a second. "We've known each other long enough for you to call me Winter."

"As long as you extend to me the same courtesy and call me Julia."

"Are you giving me an order, General?"

"No ma'am, just a suggestion." Julia said, a smile finally cracking her features.

Winter's expression matched hers for a short time before a cry cut through the air. "WINTER!"

Both Winter and Julia turned as one as three girls ran up to them. Julia instantly recognized the third girl as her sister Maria, though the other two girls were certainly not her sister's teammates. The lead girl was dressed in icy white with matching hair and electric blue eyes. The look, combined with the familiarity with which she accosted Winter told Julia exactly who she was, as Winter would often talk about her little sister Weiss. The second girl, however, was a mystery to Julia. She was shorter than the other girls, with black hair that had red tips. She wore a red cloak and a black combat skirt. Likely a friend of Winter's sister or a member of her team.

"Winter!" The girl in white cried out in joy. "I'm so happy to see you!" Quickly composing herself, the girl spoke again, curbing her enthusiasm and giving a small curtsy as she corrected her previous greeting. "Oh, uh, your presence honours us."

Maria said nothing, though she and Julia exchanged a look as Winter began to converse with her sister. Though the two sisters were far from settled on their differences, with Julia still believing in the strength and necessity of the Atlas military, and Maria still believing that Huntsmen and Huntresses were the way of the future, the two sisters had come to a grudging truce. The Impact attack on Vale was very nearly a disaster, and one that could have easily killed every person in the kingdom, or subjected them to a fate worse than death. It was only Maria, Julia and the teams under their command that were able to turn the tide and stop the advance of the monsters dropped upon the kingdom. It took both sisters, all of Maria's teammates, as well as the strength of two other teams to fend them off, and even then, Julia had still needed to intervene herself to rid vale of the remainder of the horde. Maria, however, had shown not only her own strength, but also that of her team, as they, despite being simply students, had stood alone against the hordes of nightmares, even knowing they risked their lives doing so. "Maria." Julia said with a nod.

"Sister." Maria responded.

"Beacon." Winter intoned, stepping off her ship and onto the school's docks. "It's been a long time." She said as she cast her eyes about the campus. "The air feels… different."

"Well, it is fall…" The girl in red muttered, just loud enough to be heard. "So… It's probably colder…"

Weiss slugged her in the arm before smiling sweetly at her older sister. "So! What are you doing here?"

"Classified." Winter replied curtly. Julia could tell where this was going, and it would not be fun for Weiss.

"Oh…" Weiss responded. "Right, well, how long are you staying?"

Winter narrowed her eyes. "Classified."

Weiss didn't flinch. "Of course."

A silence hung over the air, one Julia kicked herself for not breaking.

"Well…" The girl in red said. "This is nice… I think..."

"You're going to love it here!" Weiss blurted out, her sister's bluntness clearly not affecting her mood. "I know you travel a lot, but so much of Beacon is different from Atlas, Vale too, the government and school are completely separate, can you believe it-"

"I'm more than familiar with how this kingdom handles its… bureaucracy…" Winter interrupted with distaste. "That is not why I came."

"Right." The younger Schnee sister said, a little too quickly. "I'm sorry."

Julia knew what was about to happen. Weiss had let herself slip.

"Nor did I come to watch my own blood fail so miserably in battle, but it appears I have no choice in the matter." Winter nearly snapped.

"But… we won!" Weiss argued.

Maria looked like she was about to step forward to argue on Weiss' behalf, but Julia put a hand out to stop her. "This is their business, not yours."

"Only a novice would refer to that as a victory." Winter remarked. "I counted at least three strikes missed." She turned for a moment to her Atlesian Knights and gave a simple order: "Leave us." The droids acknowledged wordlessly, stepping back from their commander without so much as a nod. The elder Schnee sighed and gave a small smile. "How have you been?"

"Splendid!" The younger girl replied. "Thank you for asking. I'm actually in the very top ranking of our sparring class." Weiss said with a more than a hint of pride.

"Just behind me." Maria added to Julia in a hushed tone. "And Pyrrha, and a handful of other students."

Julia cracked a smile until the sound of a smack drew her attention to the Schnee sisters once again, as Winter had just struck her sister across the face.

"Silence, you boob!" She commanded as Weiss rubbed where she had been slapped. "I don't recall asking about your ranking," She said, her expression softening to that an older sister might wear. "I asked how you've been. Are you eating properly, have you taken up any hobbies, are you making new friends?"

"Well," Weiss said, gesturing to the red hooded girl next to her. "There's Ruby, and…" She looked over to Maria, who was fuming. If looks could kill, Winter would have been a pile of ashes. "Maria." She concluded nervously.

"I see." Winter said, first looking to Maria. "Julia, is this the little sister you've told me so much about?"

"I doubt she said anything good." Maria grumbled.

Julia narrowed her eyes at her sister. "This is my sister, Winter." She said, gesturing to Maria. "Winter Schnee, meet Maria Gaia, Maria, this is Winter Schnee, an old comrade of mine from the Atlesian Army."

Winter inclined her head slightly. "Charmed." She said, looking to The girl now identified as Ruby. "So this is the leader you wrote of." Winter said, examining the young girl's childish demeanor. "How appropriately… underwhelming." She declared, taking a few seconds to choose her last word.

"Uh… Thank you." Ruby said, desperately trying to not show her childlike side.

"Greetings, Ruby Rose." Winter said with a smile this time. "I wish to thank you for taking an interest in my sister."

"More than she knows." Maria muttered, just loud enough for Julia to hear. The general cocked her head at her sister's words. What did she mean by that?

"Oh, yes!" Ruby said, snapping to a clumsy salute. "The honour is in my… court!" She added, giving what she clearly thought was a proper curtsy before nearly toppling over, tripping over her own foot and just managing to recover.

Winter straightened herself out. "I have business with the general and your headmaster, but seeing as I'm early, why don't you take me to your quarters?"

"Really?" Weiss asked, hope evident in her voice.

"Yes." Winter replied as she, the Gaia sisters, and her droid guards followed Weiss toward the school. "I wish to inspect them, and make sure they're up to my standards."

"Of course," Weiss responded. "Just so you're aware, the bunk beds only _look_ unstable."

Winter cocked her head. "Bunk beds?"

"I'll catch up-" Ruby called, stopping herself mid sentence before retrying. "I mean, I will... reconvene with you… at a later… juncture!"

Julia tuned out the rest of her response as she stared ahead, watching as students parted like wheat before wind at their approach. "So, Maria," She said, addressing her sister. "I watched your battle as well."

"How many criticisms do you have of that?" The younger Gaia sister groaned.

"Few, actually." Julia replied. "I was rather impressed. Perhaps Beacon truly is making you into a better fighter than I estimated."

Maria frowned at her sister. "Excuse me, what?"

"Did I say something wrong?" Julia asked, eyebrow cocked.

"No, but you're not berating me. What gives?" Maria demanded.

The general sighed and opened her mouth to reply, only for the sound of crunched metal to cut her off, the head of one of Winter's droids rolling to a stop only a few feet behind them. The silence that followed was broken as a voice called out "Hey!"

Winter, Julia and their sisters turned as one to see a man approaching. He was tall and lanky, dressed in a formal, yet sloppy fashion of slacks, loafers and a fine buttonup shirt, though the top buttons were undone, and the cape that hung from his neck was short and tattered, only reaching just below his hips. His face was similar, handsome, yet sloppy, with slicked back and spiked black hair, a well defined chin and cheekbones, and shining crimson eyes, though he had a seemingly permanent stubble, and a look that was somewhere between annoyed, focused and inebriated. The image was made complete with what appeared to be some sort of weapon holstered on his mid back. The man was a huntsman, and one Julia was unfortunately familiar with.

"Yeah," he slurred, tossing the remains of a droid to the ground. "I'm talkin' to you, ice queen. You too, metalhead."

One of Winter's other droids advanced on the man, rifle raised, but the specialist raised a hand and ordered "Halt!"

Julia was about to demand to know what the man was doing, but before she could, Weiss was already advancing. "Excuse me, do you have any idea who you're talking to?" She demanded, getting right in the man's face.

The man quickly shushed her and pushed her out of his way. "Not you." He said, pushing past her and glaring at Winter and Julia, seemingly unfazed by the two generals and the droids aiming rifles at him. "You." The silence hung in the air as both parties waited for the other to make a move. "Saw that gaudy ship of yours in town." The man muttered, just loud enough to hear. "I guess you're here too."

Winter folded her arms behind her back. "I'm standing right before you."

He leaned forward and squinter before grinning like a fool. "So it would seem."

Winter glared at him. "You realize you just destroyed Atlas Military property."

The man looked about the wreckage of the droids he had mangled with mock surprise. "Ooh, I'm sorry." He drawled. "See, I mistook this for some sort of… sentient garbage."

Winter quickly shot back. "We don't have time for your immature games, Qrow."

"Wait," Maria said, looking between her sister, Winter Schnee and this man, Qrow. "You know him?"

Before either Julia or Winter could answer, Qrow spoke again. "You Atlas specialists think you're so special, don't you?"

"It's in the title." Julia growled.

"Well," Qrow went on "You know what you really are?" He asked, fixing the group with a harsh glare. "A bunch of sellouts. Just like your boss."

"I'm not sure what you think you're implying, but I've heard enough." Winter spat.

"As have I." Julia added, moving to stand alongside her old comrade.

"Oh, I heard too." Qrow continued, unfazed by the twin death glares from Julia and Winter. "I heard ol' Ironwood finally turned his back on Ozpin. And he finally decided to let the world know about one of the biggest threats to its existence."

"The threat has been dealt with." Julia growled. "I saw to that myself."

"And I'm sure it'll never crop up again." Qrow replied.

"What is he talking about?" Weiss asked.

"Weiss," Winter replied, pushing her sister aside. "It's time for you to go."

"Listen to big sister, Weiss, and you too mini Julie." Qrow added. "She'll protect you." Qrow flung his arms out and gestured about to the droids, dreadnaughts and carriers circling Vale's airspace, stumbling back as he did. "Just like Atlas is gonna protect all of us."

"If you won't hold your tongue," Witner declared, drawing her saber. "Then I will gladly remove it for you!" She spat.

"I'll hold him down while you do." Julia added, drawing her gladius and raising her scutum.

"Alright," Qrow said, slicking back his hair and beckoning them forward. "Come take it."

Winter glaerd for only a moment longer before she was gone in an instant, blade lunging for Qrow, who moved his head just out of the way of her sword. Winter stabbed and slashed again and again, each time just short of the huntsman as he ducked and dodged just enough. The elder Schnee sister made a particularly vicious slash which Qrow stepped back from and gave a comical bow. Winter took advantage and slashed down at him, only for her blade to meet the weapon on his back, the small bundle of steel unfolding into a large, single edged bastard sword. He parried Winter's attack and began to make space for his own attack.

Qrow spun around and twirled the weapon around himself, coming back to face his opponent just in time for Julia to slam into him, shield first, the impact throwing Qrow to the ground. Winter lunged for the downed huntsman, but Qrow rolled aside, the specialist's blade just stopping short of embedding itself in the earth. Qrow kipped up to his feet and spun back to make more space, holding his massive blade forward as though it were a fender's rapier, as Julia and Winter took their stances before him, Winter mimicking his stance, though doing so properly, while Julia held her shield aloft, gladius at the ready. Qrow tapped both of thier swords, twice each, before launching his assault.

The huntsman slashed forward with bold strikes, his massive sword just missing Winter as she stepped back from his assault. Seeing her chance, Julia charged again, Qrow sidestepping her charge and slamming the pommel of his sword into her back. Before he could press his advantage, Winter was on him, her shorter, lighter saber whistling through the air as she advanced on him, Qrow focusing all his attention on dodging her bladework as he attempted to make room for his own. Julia only made his life more difficult, stabbing at him with her gladius as the girls attempted to box him in.

However, it quickly became evident to Julia just what Qrow was doing. Though he lacked her sister's semblance, he was adapting to their fighting style, and before long, he was casually parrying each and every strike the two girls made, from Winter's elegant slashes and thrusts, to her own powerful hacks and stabs.

Maria and Weiss watched from the sidelines, a crowd of students having formed around the brawl as Atlas' finest battled their newest opponent. Neither one wanted to admit it, but both wanted to see their sister triumph over him right now.

"What's going on?" A voice demanded.

Weiss turned as one with Maria as Ruby arrived, the young girl confused as to where the crowd and the sounds of combat were coming from. The heiress was first to answer her. "Some crazy guy just started attacking our sisters!"

"Oh no!" Ruby squeaked, turning to face the fight. "Who would do such a thAT IS MY UNCLE!" The reaper cried, bouncing like a kid at a candy store as her childhood hero battled his newest challengers.

"What?" Maria demanded.

"KICK THEIR BUTTS, UNCLE QROW!" Ruby cheered.

Weiss huffed. "Teach him respect, Winter!"

"Knock him down, Julia!" Maria ordered. While she might not be the biggest fan of her sister, this was a competition, and who would she be if not competitive even by proxy.

Parrying another savage blow from Qrow's blade, Winter struck the huntsman across the jaw with her sword's hilt, jarring him for a moment. The huntsman recovered just in time to duck low under a thrust from Julia, rising up under her arm to knock her off balance as he raised his blade for a powerful overhand smash against Winter. Time seemed to slow for just a moment as two things happened at once. Qrow brought his blade down over Winter, just as she formed a Schnee family glyph under her own feet. Qrow's sword slammed into the ground, shattering the cobblestone beneath all the combatants with a mighty crash.

Julia picked herself back up to see Winter at the apex of her jump, Qrow's eyes fixed on her. Seizing her chance, she rammed the base of her shield into the ground, the boss opening to reveal the artillery battery behind it.

The sound of crushed rock and shifting metal caught Qrow's attention as he turned to face a savagely grinning Julia, her shield's barrel levelled directly at him. "Uh oh…" He muttered.

The Atlesian general pulled the trigger, an explosion of grapeshot firing from the barrel of her cannon. Qrow was blasted back by the firepower, flying right for where Winter stood ready, sword raised.

Qrow, however, was not one to lose easily, using his momentum to right himself and come down, sword first, against Winter, the specialist forced to dodge as the huntsman advanced on her.

Julia growled and ejected the spent clip from her shield. As she reached for a second one, a hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks. "I would not do that, if I were you." The general turned to see none other than Erik Fantine standing behind her. "Wouldn't want to compromise your career anymore than already done, would you?"

"What are you talking about?" Julia demanded. "He struck first."

"Actually," Fantine clarified. "He baited the two of you into a first strike, giving him all the justification he needed to fight back. Rather cunning, really. For a fool, at least."

Julia gripped her sword all the tighter at this single realization: Fantine was right. Her career could be over if Ironwood found out about this. She and Winter had fallen headlong for Qrow's taunts, and now the drunken fool held the moral high ground. He had reduced them from the high ranking professional soldiers they were, to a pair of squabbling children, unable to resist a fight.

"As I said, General Gaia," Fantine continued. "You may wish to stand back from this one. You saved my life, so I'll do my part in saving your career. After all," He said, placing his hand back on her now slumped shoulder. "You're likely the only one in General Ironwood's army I would trust with the Vanguard project. Wouldn't want that little thing to slip from your grasp for a little squabble."

Julia's eyes were the size of dinner plates at Fantine's words. "What… How did you… uh…"

"How did I know about Project Vanguard?" Fantine asked, voice kept low. "How did I find out about James Ironwood's newest secret weapon? The secret weapon only it's designers, your crew, you, and the general himself know about?" Fantine asked, his semblance activating and giving him the appearance of one of her crew members. "It might be kept even off the Atlesian record until its completion, but I still have ways of finding out about it." His appearance shimmered as he once again regained his appearance. "Never assume your secrets are kept so. Someone always knows."

Julia took a breath, steeling her nerves as she forced herself to stop her hands from shaking. Whether it was from anger or nerves, she didn't know, but it would not do for her voice to shake in front of a man like this. "You will tell no one about this." She said, painstakingly forcing each word out, one after the other. "It is-"

"Top secret, of course." Fantine replied, removing his hand from her shoulder. "You must calm down, General Gaia." He said, turning to face the fight once again. Winter and Qrow had returned to where they began, the Atlesian specialist now launching a swarm of summoned birds at her opponent. "If you knew how many secrets I held, that would truly terrify you. Your little secret weapon is of little concern to me. I'll likely forget it by the end of the day."

"You'll _likely_ forget it?" Julia muttered.

"I'll keep it in the back of my mind." Fantine assured her. "But worry not, the public will not hear this from me. I assure you."

Julia took a breath and resisted the urge to shudder as she let it out. She barely paid attention as Winter and Qrow squared off one last time, her mind only focusing on the Vanguard and how Fantine managed to find out about it. Who else knew? She wondered, as Winter made one final lunge, her blade surging for Qrow's throat-

"SCHNEE!"

The lieutenant general was pulled from her thoughts as General Ironwood's voice rang out through the courtyard. Every curse in Julia's entire vocabulary flew through her mind at that one second. Fantine knew about the Vanguard. She and Winter had given in to childish taunting. They had started a fight. And now, Ironwood had seen it. She was fairly certain things could not go more wrong.

Qrow put his hands behind his head and stepped back leisurely, while Winter snapped to attention. "General Ironwood, sir!" She snapped.

General Ironwood advanced, a small, orange haired girl following close behind him. Penny was her name, if Julia remembered correctly. "What in the world do you think you're doing?" Ironwood demanded in an even tone.

"He started the altercation, sir." Winter reported.

"That's actually not true," Qrow drawled. "She attacked first." He said, gesturing to the elder Schnee sister.

Ironwood followed his gesture, meeting Winter's gaze. "Is that right?"

Winter opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out as she looked away from the general's gaze.

"It was my doing, General!" Julia blurted out, stepping forward and snapping a salute. "I thought Winter was in danger, so I struck first. I will accept any reprimanding you will give."

"Julia, what are you doing?" Winter demanded.

"Taking responsibility, Miss Schnee." She replied. "I started this fight, I'll take the punishment from it."

"As touching as this display is," Fantine said, stepping up from behind Julia, his words sending a shiver down her spine. "I think you'll find the Schnee girl is, in fact responsible for this incident. She struck first and, amusingly enough, last. It was the drunken buffoon who blew the new crater in the walkway, however."

Ironwood's gaze returned to Winter, though it did linger on Qrow, who had the good sense to look bashful at his mention. However, the new crater was the least of their worries. A crowd had gathered, numerous confused and interested students having arrived to watch the excitement of the fight, and who now stood in awe of the deafening silence, the awkwardness of the moment preventing any from looking away.

"I see." The general muttered, as Winter and Julia both looked away in shame. "And you." He said, looking to Qrow with a gaze that could freeze any other man's blood. The look only remained for a second, but it got the man's attention as the general closed the distance with him. "What are you doing here?" He softly demanded.

Qrow smirked. "I could be asking you and your little pet here the same thing." He said, gesturing to Julia.

Julia was in the process of biting back the urge to smack him when her thoughts were interrupted. "Now now, everyone." Ozpin said, instantly taking the attention off the former combatants. He approached calmly, with the ever glaring Glynda at his side and a cup of coffee in hand, a small, yet genuine smile playing at his lips. "There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the coliseum, that I can assure you has better seats. And popcorn." He said, leaning in and widening his smile slightly.

For those not convinced, Glynda stepped forward with her usual aggression. "Break it up, everyone! We will handle this mess."

Ironwood straightened his collar as Winter's forces regrouped. "Let's go." He quietly ordered.

Maria watched as Julia and Winter fell into step behind him, the small, orange haired girl following them. She watched as the girl and Ruby exchanged cheerful waves.

The second Ruby and the girl broke eye contact, however, the young huntress in training launched herself at Qrow like a rose powered ballistic missile. "UNCLE QROOOOOOW!" She squeed, latching onto his arm. "Hi." The older huntsman lifted his arm, though his niece refused to release it. "Ah, it's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me?!" Ruby demanded, an expression of unbridled joy on her young face as she looked Qrow dead in the eye.

To Qrow's credit, he did not flinch, even as the sugar high huntress stared him right in the face. He smirked. "Nope." The huntsman ruffled his niece's hair as she giggled in glee.

"Qrow." Ozpin called, his declaration causing the man in question to drop Ruby unceremoniously onto the ground. A look to the man told Maria all she needed to know: he was running low on patience. "A word, please." He ordered as Glynda used her abilities to repair the damaged walkway.

Maria sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as Qrow and Ruby bantered. She had more to worry about than this drunk.

Weiss stepped forward as Qrow left. "And suddenly your recklessness makes sense."

"You're just mad he whooped butt." Ruby countered with a grin.

Maria rolled her eyes. "That was a draw at best."

oxoxoxo

Thatch and Alison took their seats alongside Jaune and Pyrrha at the Vytal Festival grounds as they waited for Yang and Blake to get back. Having seen the end of the most recent bout of the tournament, the group of friends decided to enjoy some time together, as recently, they had been so focused on the tournament and their huntsman shadowing missions that they had scarcely seen one another, let alone spent time together. So it had been decided that at least an evening together was more than called for, and seeing as how Yang was near constantly hungry (and Blake's roaring stomach said she could go for a meal as well), they hit the fair grounds and found the perfect destination: a noodle hut that Teams RWBY and JNPR had been to while EMAD was training. Thatch, Alison, Jaune and Pyrrha had found them a table while Yang and Blake had taken their orders and gone off to buy their meals. Thatch had offered to pay for the meal, but Pyrrha had retrieved her wallet and given Team RWBY's members enough lien for six large bowls of noodles, assuring them that a day with her friends was more than worth the price of dinner.

"You know, I'm really impressed, Jaune." Thatch said, patting the knight on the back. "For someone with your background, you're really getting better at leading your team."

Jaune scratched the back of his head and chuckled to himself. "I've always been pretty good at strategy I guess."

"Strategy is one thing," The renegade continued. "You managed to coordinate your entire team, something I don't think I could ever do, that's for sure. You might want to get those attack names down though, really make sure your team knows them."

The knight turned pink at the mention of his one fumble that round. "Yeah… That might be a good idea."

Though Pyrrha merely giggled and beamed at her leader, Thatch had to stop himself from laughing. When Jaune and his team had managed to get the match going in their favour, the young knight had ordered 'flower power' which was supposed to entail Ren and Nora finishing off the enemy together. However, he had evidently forgotten to let the teammates in question know about what the order meant. "Don't worry, mate," Thatch said. "You might have fumbled a bit, but you still won. Not only that, but Maria wants to get our team some of those fancy attack names of yours."

"Wait, really?" Pyrrha asked. "Maria wants to try that?"

Thatch and Alison nodded and both held back laughter at some of Maria's scrapped ideas for joint attack names. Such titles as 'Royal Art' for Alison and Francois, or 'Imperial Navy' for Thatch and Maria were thrown about, though the centurion was still unable to think up an attack duo name for herself and Francois, and had quickly scrapped the title of 'Lovebirds' to describe Alison and Thatch. She had said it sounded good at first, but wanted something a bit more symbolic. Thatch found it a bit odd that their fearless leader would even want to try something like this, but found it less odd the more he knew her, especially after finding her secret comic stash. Who would have guessed the humourless centurion had a guilty pleasure in X-Ray and Vav comics. "You don't want to know some of the things she's tried to come up with." Thatch muttered.

Alison giggled in response, making Thatch put an arm around her shoulders. He looked down to her, her sparkling jade eyes meeting his once again as they shared a quick smile. Alison was hardly one for public displays of affection, though she was just fine with romantic gestures such as leaning on her favourite male teammate, just so people knew he was with her. The rumours he was seeing Yang behind her back were ones neither of them enjoyed, though they had quickly come to an end when Yang had a 'talk' with their originator. Though no further rumours had been spread after that, Alison still felt like making it known he was hers.

"Alright, everyone!" Yang called, getting their attention as she approached with a large tray piled high with dishes. "Noodles are here!" Thatch was hardly impressed with how she managed to carry the giant tray full of even bigger bowls of food. He had seen her helping to set up for the dance, and carrying the giant speakers over her shoulder. One tray of food was child's play for her. "I've got vegetarian for Pyrrha, pork for Jaune and for me, seafood for Blake, leek and mushroom for Alison, and chicken and mushroom for Thatch." Yang handed each recipient their dish as she called them, once again simply handing them their dishes one handed. Thatch would normally roll his eyes at the showing off, but with a bowl of noodles in front of him, and his girl beside him, he wasn't going to complain.

The table went quiet as they all tucked into their dishes, Blake in particular devoured hers with quite the ferocity. Thatch would normally have chuckled at the Faunus girl's actions, but his mouth was too full of chicken and mushroom to care at the moment. What did get him to chuckle was Alison. The girl had started out eating her noodles very daintily, picking them up with her chopsticks and serving herself one mouthful at a time. However, that daintiness had gone out the window after the first few bites, and the artist was soon stuffing her face alongside all the other students. Thatch wasn't sure whether she picked that particular habit up from him, or from their fearless leader, a voracious eater in her own right, but it had happened, amusing him greatly.

Surprising no one, the first to finish were Blake and Yang, the blonde finishing her meal with a hearty belch and a sigh of contentment. "So, who are you guys putting up for the doubles round?"

Thatch chuckled to himself. "Fearless leader has her and I going up this round. Says we have a good mix of attack and defense that way." She had a fair point, Thatch thought, after all, her shield wasn't breaking anytime soon, and Thatch certainly had enough speed and agility to keep up with the enemy. "She'll probably call me in for training later today, just in case we're up tomorrow."

"You guys will do great!" Yang declared, flashing Thatch a thumbs up. "Well, unless you fight Team RWBY. We've got me and Weiss going in, and we're not gonna make it easy for you guys!"

"You can't go easy against Maria if you want to win." Pyrrha pointed out. "Trust me, I know." She said, chuckling as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Who is JNPR sending?" Alison asked.

"JNPR took a vote," Jaune answered. "And we decided that it would be best to sent in Pyrrha,"

"Hello~"

"And Nora." Jaune finished, somewhat surprised the hyperactive hammer wielder didn't pop up behind him.

"Quite the duo." Said a new voice. The group turned as one as Maria approached, still dressed in full armour even this late into the day. "Might even be a challenge to Thatch and I."

"Don't forget, I did beat you before." Pyrrha replied. "Twice, in fact."

"Which just means I'm due for a win by now." Maria said, folding her arms with a cocky smirk. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for our fight, trust me."

"Well, I look forward to seeing them." Pyrrha replied with her usual cheeriness.

Maria smirked wider and pulled up a chair next to the amazon, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving a light squeeze. "And may the best woman win."

Thatch and Alison shared a smile at their leader's antics. It hadn't even been a year since they arrived at Beacon, but their leader was already lightening up on a girl she had scarcely been able to tolerate the presence of at its start. Not only that, but Team JNPR had completely forgiven Maria for her misdeeds at the start of the year, something all parties involved were glad for. Now, however, with the centurion back on her feet, the spirit of competition was starting to come back between her and Pyrrha, and with the tournament having begun, there was no better time to compete. Thatch knew that in Maria's eyes, this tournament would decide which one of them was the better fighter. Pyrrha's semblance be damned, he had his bets on Maria.

oxoxoxo

Fantine did not know whether to be shocked, annoyed or furious. Right now, he was just attempting to hold back that final feeling.

It had been a few hours since Qrow and the young ladies from Atlas had their little altercation, and since then, Qrow had briefed Ozpin on his findings. At first it had been almost comical to watch Ironwood have one of his rare near meltdowns, and though Ozpin seemed more than a little annoyed with some of Qrow's more drunken antics, the man had long been a friend of Fantine's, so the phantom learned to tolerate his bouts of foolish alcoholism.

However, after dealing with Ironwood, Qrow had revealed his findings. Someone was inside Beacon, and whoever it was was likely responsible for Autumn's condition. That was when Fantine nearly fell from the wall he was leaning on.

"Despite what the world thinks, we're not just teachers, or generals, or headmasters." Qrow grunted. "The people in this room, the leaders of the other two academies, we're the ones that keep the world safe from the evils no one even knows about."

"They know about one more now," Fantine added. "Though not in the way I hoped they would find out."

Ironwood snarled at him. "You were the one who wanted to tell the world about the inferri-"

"And I intended to tell them, not stage a demonstration by dropping monsters they knew nothing about onto their heads." Fantine explained. "We covered up a problem rather than dealing with it-"

"After we lost a thousand men in one night!" Ironwood shot back. "Moral was at an all time low, we could not run another expedition after that many losses."

"And so instead of warning the citizenry to avoid that one corner of the world, you erased the island from all charts and pretended it wasn't even there." Qrow added. "Great idea, brilliant, even. Now all we have to do is wait for some poor unfortunate to fly over it, maybe think they could stop for the night. We'll just have to roll the dice on their survival."

"This is why we work in the shadows," Qrow continued. "Why we meet behind closed doors, so you tell me James, when you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discrete, or did you just not give a damn?"

To his credit, Ironwood didn't even take a step back as Qrow got directly in his face. Fantine could only imagine a lesser man would have backed down from the stench of alcohol alone, but the general stood his ground before giving a sigh of resignation as he placed his scroll on Ozpin's desk, connecting it to the CCT network. "Discrete wasn't working." Ironwood declared, a hologram of Vale, Amity Colosseum, and Ironwood's fleet appearing in the center of the room. "I'm here," Ironwood declared, gesturing to his handiwork "Because this is what was necessary."

"You're here because Ozpin wanted you here!" Qrow countered. "He brought you into this circle and opened your eyes to the real fight that's in front of us!"

"And I am grateful."

"Oh, well, you've got a real funny way of showing it."

"The people of Vale needed someone to protect them." Ironwood stated firmly. "Someone who would act. When they look to the sky and they see my fleet, they feel safe. And our enemies will feel that strength."

To some, Ironwood's speech may have seemed impressive, but Fantine and Qrow merely began to chuckle. "James, perhaps you don't understand just what we face." Fantine said. "Qrow and myself, we have been out in the field while you arranged your toy soldiers. While you think our enemies fear your army, I tell you now, what our enemy creates, what she holds sway over, they are fear. What I faced when I went to the Abyss for the first time, when I fought the battle that ended the Grimm Incursion. He was fear."

"And fear will bring the Grimm." Ozpin added, moving from behind his desk to stand next to the phantom. "A guardian is a symbol of comfort, an army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, a question in the back of everyone's minds: if this is the size of our defenses, what is it we're expecting to fight?"

Ironwood was silent as the other occupants of the room all glared at him as one. "So then," He said, stepping forward to collect his scroll from Ozpin's desk. "What would you propose we do?"

Ozpin took his seat back at his desk. "I suggest we find our guardian."

oxoxoxo

Francois leaned back in his seat as he sat across from Velvet on the patio of a cafe in Vale. "And you're sure Coco won't mind you being here with me?" He asked, gesturing to her.

"Positive." Velvet replied, taking a forkful of the chocolate cake on her plate.

Francois chuckled to himself at her actions. It hadn't taken him long to learn the weakness his girlfriend had for chocolate cakes, and through his contacts in Vale, it hadn't been long before he found the cafe that served what nearly the entire city called the best cake in the kingdom. If the look on her face when she took a bite was any indication, his contacts were more than right.

"Coco's not gonna need me to fight for a bit." Velvet continued after swallowing her mouthful of cake. "She's gonna be fighting with Yatsuhashi, so I'm free for date night."

" _Vraiment,_ I am the luckiest man in all of Vale." The nobleman replied with his trademark grin. "And did I not choose the perfect cafe for said date night?"

"Mmm you did." Velvet replied, her face becoming more than a bit scarlet. Francois smirked at his ability to continue to impress his girlfriend, even as their teams competed with one another in the Vytal Festival.

The nobleman took a sip of his latte and smiled to himself. "I thought as much." He said, lowering his drink back to the table. It was nice to know that even though they fought for different teams in this tournament that their respective team leaders would let them continue to date. Francois had confronted Maria the day before the tournament and had been ready to beg on his knees to be with Velvet had it been necessary. To his surprise, rather than scold him or tell him to end things with Velvet, Maria had given him one simple instruction: "keep your love life off the battlefield and you're good."

Her response was somewhat surprising, but it did make some sense to him. Maria might have been competitive, but she was hardly about to risk losing the loyalty of her entire team again, especially over something this petty. However, there was still the condition that Francois would need to fight Velvet should their teams be pitted against one another, but with her confirmation that she would not be on her team's doubles round selection, the two of them were in the clear.

Francois raised his drink, as Velvet did the same, the two clinking their mugs as the nobleman proposed a toast. "To us, and to our teammates."

"I'll drink to that." Velvet replied, taking a sip from her hot chocolate.

The two took their drinks and gave a joint sigh as they finished draining their mugs. Velvet and Francois shared a smile. Truly, his day could not get better than this.

"Francois?"

The nobleman looked up from Velvet's eyes at the new voice, turning to the street. There stood a young boy, likely no older than fifteen years old, blue eyed, with long, unkempt blond hair. He was dressed in a royal blue blazer, the emblem of a gold fleur de lis emblazoned upon the left breast. The boy looked absolutely elated to see him, his eyes sparkling and a huge smile on his face. Francois stood up as he locked eyes with the boy. "Damien?"

"Francois, it is you!" The boy ran forward, jumping over the fence onto the cafe patio and running up to catch the nobleman in an embrace. "It's so good to see you!"

" _Oui, mon frere!"_ Francois said as he returned the hug, parting for just a moment to ruffle the young boy's hair. "You are a mess, little brother, what would _maman et papa_ say?"

oxoxoxo

 **Sorry about the wait, guys, work and school have been kicking my ass, and those in conjunction with writer's block have been a bitch and a half to deal with. Still, let's see if I can't get the next chapter out any quicker, and move on to more tournament fights! After all, we do still need to see EMAD take part in the doubles round**

 **As always, please leave a review and let me know how best to improve aside from just making quicker updates, because damned if I'm not at least trying...**


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